Note: I cried writing this so beware, this is a pretty emotionally charged chapter and if you cry, know that you weren't alone.
Only You, Quatre
A month had passed since Trowa had disappeared without a trace into the early morning on a quest to save Keyda. The pilots had only received short transmissions since then, updates on things and to check in on the children who had become a part of the household. When asked about Eve's condition Trowa could only respond with the same thing every time. There's no change. And so it was that late one night, just before the stroke of midnight, that Trowa broke into Quatre's house and made his way stealthily through the various hallways. As expected he was intercepted on three occasions by his own people but knowing it was him they made no move to halt his progress to Quatre's room. Opening the door carefully Trowa let himself in and made his way over to his friend's bed, standing there for a moment before covering Quatre's mouth with his hand, his friend waking up instantly, his eyes already searching for the one who'd intruded. Once he was sure Quatre knew who it was Trowa removed his hand. "You've improved your security since the last time it was tested. It took me twice as long to get in here."
"Trowa? What are you doing here? Especially so late?" Quatre wanted to know having taken a quick look at the clock. "You can't mean to take the children now. They need their sleep and knowing them they're just getting to sleep now."
"No, I didn't come for them. I came for you." Trowa said calmly as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Personally he thought this was all a waste of time but when Keyda gave a direct order you generally did it or there was hell to pay. "If you'll come that is. I won't force you."
#)#
"Take me where?" Quatre wanted to know as he sat up fully in bed, trying to wake up completely after an exhausting day.
"To Eve. She won't wake up, Quatre. We've tried everything we can think of, everyone's talked to her and tried to coax her out of the coma. Nothing. Darius thinks that maybe she'll listen to you." Trowa said calmly though personally he doubted very much Quatre would be of any use in this. Eve was lost to them and he didn't think anyone talking to her was going to snap her out of it. But he'd promised Keyda he'd do this and so he was here. "I'd have come at a normal time but I figured it was best if the children didn't see me here. They'd want to come back with me and it's not safe for them, not yet anyway."
"Of course I'll come." Quatre said as he pushed back the covers, sitting on the side of the bed as he looked at Trowa carefully. "If you think it will help."
"Personally I don't think it will make any difference but the females in our group, along with a few male supporters seem to think otherwise. Then again I suppose if I was in a deep coma after a life like Eve's had Catherine and Keyda would probably be the only two that could call me, convince me to come back. J.C. has already tried so I think that leaves you...if everyone is right in thinking she's got a thing for you?" Trowa asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. He had no idea of the exact status of Eve's relationship with Quatre and to be honest he really didn't want to know. The last thing he wanted confirmed was that he'd pushed the woman destined to break Quatre's heart directly in his best friend's path.
"To tell you the truth I don't know anymore but I want to come with you. If there's a chance it will help her then I want to do whatever I can." Quatre said as he got to his feet. "Just let me get dressed and throw some stuff together."
#)#
Together the two drove to a basically abandoned airstrip. Or at least it looked abandoned but as soon as they came to a stop three people appeared from the darkness, calling out a greeting to Trowa. Soon they were being ushered into a small plane which took off as soon as possible with Trowa taking the controls from J.C. who went to the back to sit beside Quatre for the trip.
"I really appreciate you doing this." J.C. began once they were in the air. "I know with all your businesses and stuff this has to be inconvenient."
"Some things are worth a little inconvenience." Quatre said with a small smile as he lifted a hand to silence a yawn. "I just hope I can help."
"You and me both. Eve is...well she's all that I have left of my family now. My old family anyway." J.C. said with a small smile though there was a deep sadness in his eyes. "We've made a new family with everyone, the kids and the people we work with. But that's not the same thing. You've lost your parents and a sister right? You'd understand."
"Yes, unfortunately I do." Quatre said as he laid a comforting hand on J.C.'s shoulder. "But I'm lucky, even though I don't have them I still have a lot of other people in my life, quite a few of which are opinionated, stubborn sisters."
"Yeah, they can be a real pain in the butt, can't they?" J.C. said with a chuckle, pleased to find that he was starting to like this Quatre Winner. Even though he'd just been a child he remembered how easy it was for people to let the spotlight and the power that came with success could change a person. If it hadn't been for his family odds were he would have turned into one spoiled brat. Being born into a family of celebrity singers would have done that to most kids he'd imagine. Quatre had been born into his wealth but apparently he'd kept his feet planted firmly on the ground too.
#)#
"So you're her youngest brother right?" Quatre asked hesitantly, not wanting to touch on anything painful. Noin had told them only bits and pieces about the hantas, she'd said that they'd earned the right to their privacy.
"Yes, my name was Joseph back then. Everyone called me Joey though." J.C. said with a smile, thinking that if this guy was to be anything to his sister he might as well know some things. As it was Eve wouldn't talk about them. "We were one big happy family, a real one even though we were constantly on the road and in the public eye. My parents were great people who loved each other and us more then I can ever say. I only now realize how rare and precious that really is. The greatest gifts we get in this world are often those we don't even realize are gifts, aren't they?"
"Until we lose them." Quatre agreed quietly, understanding the sentiment exactly. "My father and I fought a lot, especially as I got older. When he died..well there were a lot of things left unsaid that should have been. On both sides. Now I'd gladly forfeit twenty years of my life to bring him back, even if all we did was just argue again."
#)#
"Yeah. I was only in the labs for a week, my sister smuggled me out. There was...one of the lab techs there was a big fan of Evie and she managed to bribe him into getting me out. I played dead and was thrown in the truck with all the other dead children for that day to be transferred to a nearby crematorium. That's how they got rid of the evidence. The truck was stopped part way by an arranged roadblock and I was handed over to a former band member that Evie had gotten the tech to get in touch with. Jackson took care of me till Evie came to get me, I was nearly dead by the time she got there but she nursed me back and never left my side, not for a moment." J.C. said with tears glimmering in his eyes though will kept them from falling. "I wouldn't have survived another week in that place, I was never strong like she was. I could never protect her the way I wanted to."
"But by loving her you saved her." Quatre said, his eyes closed tight as he tried not to imagine the scenes playing out in his mind. Eve had done whatever it took to get her brother out of there making no attempt to get herself out, to selfishly use her influence for her own purposes. She'd been willing to pay any price to see that her brother got out okay. "I think...and I've been thinking about it a lot. I think she's been living for you all these years. I think you are her reason for living. Whenever she talks about her life it isn't with joy or with anticipation of what's to come. She's always so hard and cynical, so sure that this world is going to hell with no hope in sight. And yet she fought and fights to stay alive, even now. She fights not because she wants to live but because she needs to see you grow up and be happy. She needs to protect you..the way she couldn't protect your sister Sarah."
#)#
"Our whole family wasn't at our best that day, when they came for us. We'd had a performance the day before and it had started to pour, we all got soaked good and being the professionals that we were we just kept on playing through the rain. You could see we were all headed for cols. When we got to the labs though, Sarah was already feeling sick and I wasn't much better, Evie had a bad headache and was worrying herself sick. She had a feeling in her gut that something wasn't right. They split us up as soon as we arrived, the children under ten and those older. Evie begged to let her go with us, to keep us together but they hit her, back handed her across the face and one of the soldiers dragged her off with the rest of the older kids while Sarah and I held hands and went the other way. Then they separated us by gender and we just couldn't...they tore us apart...that was the last time I saw her." Joseph said, a single tear rolling down his cheek as he remembered his happy, smiling little sister. "After a few days the death toll was huge, kids were dying like flies and the scientists hit on the idea of putting siblings together, that that might increase our will to fight and survive. They went around asking if we had siblings here and I told them I had Sarah and Evie, that I wanted to see them and would do anything, all I wanted or needed was them. I promised not to cry or die, all they had to do was take me to my sisters. So they took me to Evie. We waited and we waited for Sarah to come but she didn't. We begged and pleaded for her, wanting her with us so that we could be together again until our parents came for us. One of the scientists finally told us she'd died the second day, she'd gotten really sick the first night there and since they wouldn't treat her except with their little drugs...her immune system couldn't handle it. That's when Evie cried and then never cried again. That was the day she stopped believing in anyone and anything."
#)#
It was sunset when they arrived at the sea coast, landing on the roof of a large house that was surrounded by trees on three sides and the water at the back. From the looks of it the only way to reach the house was by air. Escorted inside the group of men broke up with Trowa heading off to check on Keyda and J.C. showing the way to Eve's room. Stopping in front of it J.C. took a deep breath before looking over at Quatre, a small smile on her face. "I'll leave you alone to talk now. Just give it your best shot, I'm not expecting miracles, I don't believe in them anymore." J.C. said with a shrug before heading off down the hallway, his shoulders and back straight though there was an air of grief around him that was heart wrenching.
Watching the young man Quatre felt an unbelievable weight drop onto his shoulders that smothered him and made him want to turn and run, run away from all this. He didn't know if he could open the door and go to her, to see her like that after hearing everything J.C. had told him. Who was he to ask her to keep living with that kind of pain and terror in her heart. How dare anyone ask her to keep on living in this nightmare. Wasn't it selfish of him and J.C. to ask her to live for them, to put their well being before her? Every nightmare, every memory a white hot poker to her heart. She had earned the right to let herself go on to what had to be a better place. Then again who wanted to live in a place created by the God who would let his innocent children suffer so.
#)#
"She smiled you know." Came a voice and Quatre looked over to see Darius calmly watching him, his young eyes all knowing. "When she was talking or thinking about you. She'd pretend like you didn't but she was happy when she was around you. She doesn't so much around J.C. because she blames herself for not protecting him, a living memory of her failures as she'd view it. But you, you could make her happy and I think that maybe, just maybe you should let her know that you want the chance. In the end it's her choice to make but it couldn't hurt for her to know that there are a few more pros to add on the reason to live list. Just a thought." Darius said with a careless shrug before wincing at the discomfort that caused.
"How did you know that's what I needed to hear?"
"Well I am the man." Darius said with a wink, cocky even when his body was in more pain then usual. "We don't know if she can have children by the way. With all the stuff in our bodies...well the scientists figured the females would still be able to reproduce but none of us have had children yet so we don't know for sure. She'll be on medication for the rest of her life though and I can guarantee it's unlikely that she'll get much nicer or less cynical any time soon either. Can you live with that?"
"She'd be enough and I don't care what she has to do so long as she's happy." Quatre said simply feeling the weight slowly leaving his shoulders, evaporating into the air along with his steadying breath. "Talk to you later, Darius." Quatre added before reaching out to turn the door handle and let himself in, missing Darius's silent salute as Quatre closed the door behind him.
#)#
Turning around once he'd closed the door Quatre scanned the room first then forced his eyes to land and center on the bed where a lone figure lay, tucked under a bright blue quilt that suited her somehow. Walking over to the left side of the bed Quatre took a seat on the side of the bed, simply looking at her for several long moments. She looked just as she had the last time he'd watched her sleep, Quatre thought absently as he lifted a hand to brush her bangs back, smiling slightly when they stubbornly shot back into place. She was paler then normal but otherwise she looked like a sleeping girl, not hooked up to anything or showing any sign of injury that would give away her condition. Then again there wasn't any point in hooking her up to something if she was only around through will and drugs didn't affect her. Absently smoothing her covers down Quatre took a deep breath then reaching under the covers pulled out the limp hand from her side, holding it gently in his own as he looked down at her. "Hey you." Quatre began, not entirely sure what it was he was going to say, what words he could say that would reach her in the darkness. "I met your brother, you've done a pretty good job raising him. He loves you to death, you know. No matter what happens though, I'll take care of him for you if he ever needs me and I'll help take care of the other kids too, give Trowa and Keyda a hand if they'll let me. And I...Christ I don't know what I'm saying." Quatre said as he absently ran a hand through his hair, his frustration obvious on his face. "I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to spit it out and hope for the best. I love you and I want you to live. I don't expect the whole wife, kids and a white picket fence, fences are out of fashion anyway. I'll take whatever you'll give me, Eve. I want you in my life, I want it more then anything because we fit, you and I. I haven't known you long and maybe I'm wrong about what our future will be like but I'd like the chance, the chance to try and make you happy. So do what makes you happy, Evie. Do what you want to do. If you want to leave then I'll understand and in sixty years or so I'll follow after you and we can be together then. I'm willing to wait if that's how it has to be. I'll wait a life time for another chance with you."
#)#
It was two in the morning when there was a stirring in Eve's room. Her eyelashes fluttering she was aware only of the steady thump, the heartbeat under her ear. Opening her eyes to half mast Eve smiled slowly as she became aware of the feel of being held securely in Quatre's arms, the smell of his skin and shampoo in her nose. She didn't know why he was there or even where there was exactly but she was glad he was there. Closing her eyes again Eve relaxed against him and let herself drift off to sleep once more with the sound of his heart beating under her ear. She'd ask him about it in the morning.