X
Chapter 6:
Nightmares
"Sorry Lea, but it just-won't-budge!" Duo huffed as he tried to pry the old window next to Lea's bed open. Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei were in front of the computers again, working on how they would infiltrate Sakio's hideout. Lea had been with them for about a week now, and she was now comfortable with them all. Just last night, though, Lea had passed out again, simply because Wufei noticed there was a dent in the X and tried to fix it. Her head was hurting again, and she had asked Duo to open the decrepit window situated over Lea's bed.
"That's okay, I'll live." Lea said quietly and turned over in her bed. Duo sighed and walked back over to Wufei.
"You can do repairs, just wait until she falls asleep."
"I know that, Maxwell." Wufei said angrily, and typed a fake password on the computer.
"We've located Sakio's hideout, he's in Kyoto." Quatre said, and typed in something else.
"It's an underground bunker, made during World War II."
"Sounds like it would be easy to get into." Trowa said, and scooted closer to Quatre's computer to get a closer look. His jaw dropped. On the screen was a map of the bunker's exact coordinates.
"That must be at least 800 feet below sea-level!"
"What!" Duo yelled and sprang over to see the map. "Impossible! And look at all those tunnels, how're we supposed to get in there? It looks like a bowl of spaghetti!"
"Well put." Wufei sneered. "Has Heero gotten to see this yet?"
Trowa shook his head. "He just disappeared somewhere..."
Duo sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Well, this hangar's pretty big, he could be anywhere."
Heero walked along a dark hall. All the windows were boarded up, but not completely. No rays of light came through the cracks, even though he knew it was daytime. Suddenly, he felt something breathing on his neck. He turned around abruptly, but only saw a shadow.
"What do you want now?" Heero asked, as if he knew the strange entity.
"I want you to kill her." The shadow said. It felt to Heero like he was whispering right in his ear, even though the shadow was standing right in front of him.
"Why?"
"Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her."
"No! I won't!"
"Kill her. Kill her. Kill her."
"NO!"
"Kill her. Kill her... kill her... kill..."
There was a sudden flash of light, and Heero was falling, falling into some great, black void.
"NO!" Heero yelled and sat up in bed. He was drenched in sweat, and felt cold and clammy. The door to his bedroom slowly opened. "Who is it?" Heero said, sounding very shook up.
"Heero? It's me..." the door opened up a little more to reveal a girl, only slightly shorter than he was, with her covers draped over her shoulders like a cape. "It's me, Lea."
Heero blinked in the light that flooded his room from the bright doorway. Lea quickly closed the door behind her as she walked in.
"Heero, are you okay? I... I thought I heard you yelling..."
"Did I wake you up?" Heero asked, grabbing a handful of sheet and drying his face. Lea stared at him and shook her head.
"I couldn't sleep." She then looked at Heero's large window at the far side of the room. Lightning flashed as thunder clapped in the distance. "I hate thunderstorms. They freak me out..." she said and absently sat down at the foot of Heero's bed. "I mean, I don't mind the rain or the lightning, but it's the thunder that shakes me up." Lea closed her eyes as she listened to the rain falling. Heero watched her.
"I don't like thunder either, it always sounds like an explosion." He turned his head and stared out the window.
"Why... were you yelling?" Lea said, stifling a yawn. Heero leaned against the wall behind him and sighed.
"I had a nightmare."
"A nightmare? What happened?" Lea said, leaning backwards, and then falling down onto the bed. Heero again let his gaze fall on her. Suddenly Heero felt relaxed, as if he could really tell her everything, every single nightmare he had been having for the past few days, and he felt comfortable with her presence. Lea felt somewhat mutually; now no matter how loud the thunder would roar, she would feel safe if Heero was there.
"If it's alright... I don't really want to talk about it." Heero said, mainly to himself. Lea slowly nodded and yawned again.
"I understand...you don't have to talk about it... if you don't want to..." Lea was asleep. Heero stared at her, just as thunder banged in the distance.
Lea awoke to find she was still on the edge of Heero's bed. Had she slept there all night? She sat up and looked around. Heero was apparently still asleep on the far side of the bed. His hair was all ruffled, more even than usual. Lea smiled at how peaceful he looked. His chest moved slowly up and down, and Lea watched him, as if waiting for him to do something amazing. But what happened next, Lea wouldn't have expected.
"...Lea..."
He was calling out her name.
"Heero?"
"...Lea..."
Lea stared at him, and he slowly opened his eyes and sat up.
"...Kill Lea... Kill her..."
Lea gasped and jumped to her feet. Heero also stood up and walked over to her. She backed up against the wall. Heero's eyes were closed now, but he still pursued her.
"Heero! Wake up, Heero!"
Lea cried out frantically. Heero reached his hands out and grabbed her neck and held tightly and for a split second, Lea couldn't breathe. Her windpipe was closed off by Heero's cold hands.
Then, almost as quickly as he had grabbed her neck, Heero let go and slid to the floor, dragging Lea with him. She fell on top of him, and Heero woke up.
"...Lea?" Heero spoke with a start and sat up, throwing Lea off of him, who was breathing hard. "Lea, what were you...?" Heero asked, sounding a little shaky, his whole face turned red.
"What's wrong with you?" Lea yelled suddenly, rubbing her neck.
"What?" Heero said, turning even more red. "But I didn't..."
Lea stood up and sighed deeply. "Are you alright? You were probably just dreaming or something..."
"What... was I doing something?" Heero asked, the blood in his face leaving, making him grow pale. Lea stared at him and then closed her eyes.
"No... you were just sleep walking..." Lea stepped over Heero and slammed the door behind her. Heero stood up, feeling dazed.
"What... just happened?"
Is there something wrong?
"No, X, I'm okay."
No, you're not.
Lea groaned and held out her hand to the robot. X lowered his hand and she climbed aboard it. "Well, I just don't want to talk about it, okay?" Lea fished around in her shirt and pulled out her pendant. She swung it back and forth, staring at it.
Okay.
Lea sighed once again, and dropped the pendant back into her shirt. The two were silent for a long time. X was beginning to worry when Lea stood.
"Have you seen Trowa at all?"
I have. He was just here a little while ago. I think he said he was going outside.
Lea nodded. "Thank you." She then jumped off the enormous robotic hand and headed towards the door.
Lea, where did you get that scar?
"What?" Lea said suddenly, as her hand shot to her face. "Oh this... I guess I forgot all about it. A bullet grazed my cheek just before I came here."
A bullet? From whom?
Lea closed her eyes and opened the door.
"Sakio."
Trowa was sitting down in the moist grass. It was just past morning, and the dew was already beginning to dry up. He suddenly fell backward, lying in the grass, and staring up at the blue sky.
"Trowa?" Lea asked, leaning over his head and obscuring Trowa's vision. Trowa blinked, but couldn't find anything to say, so he just stared. Lea smiled and lay down beside him in the grass.
"It's lovely out here..." Lea said softly. Trowa closed his eyes.
"Lea, is something wrong?"
Lea sat up straight. "What? No, why?"
"I don't know..." Trowa said, opening his eyes and staring at her. "You just seem... troubled, that's all. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No... because there's nothing to talk about." Lea answered somewhat angrily. She stood up. "I'm kind of hungry, where's Duo?"
"In the kitchens." Trowa said, closing his eyes again.
"Duo! Hey, Duo!" Lea called. She was in the kitchen, but Duo was nowhere in sight. Suddenly the pantry door opened up.
"Over here, kiddo!" he said, sounding muffled behind a tower of food which he was trying to carry. "Gimme a hand, will ya?"
Lea quickly grabbed the eggs, which looked like they would be the first to topple. Duo quickly made his way to the counter and lay out all the ingredients.
"Alright, now, are you willing to help me prepare the breakfast of the century?"
Lea smiled slightly. "Sure,"
Duo grabbed a fresh pan and dumped the eggs into it. "So where were you last night?"
"I... uhm... I got a little scared and so I... went to Heero's room..."
Duo nearly dropped the egg he was holding. "What? What the heck were you doing there?"
"Nothing, just the thunder kind of freaked me out, and I heard him yelling..."
Duo nodded. "He was probably just having a nightmare."
Lea cocked her head, unsure how to reply to this statement.
"And you're not worried about him at all?"
"I am worried... but you know, we all get nightmares..." Duo stared at the cooking egg in the pan, intent on watching it, and not Lea.
"You mean, you five. Why so?"
Duo immediately froze. "Because we all used to be soldiers."
"Really?" Lea said and sat down on the nearest chair. Duo continued.
"We were the five Gundam pilots."
Lea's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"
Duo nodded, as if used to all this already. "I piloted the Deathscythe. Heero piloted Wing Zero, Quatre Sandrock, Trowa Heavyarms, and Wu-man-"
"Don't call me that." Wufei said angrily. He was standing in the doorway and was apparently watching the whole scene. "I piloted Nataku."
Lea slid off the chair a little. "You mean... you were all... Gundam pilots?"
"What we just said." Duo sighed and flipped the egg over. Lea took a deep breath, as if to calm herself.
"Oh my God..." she said and pulled her hand through her hair. She felt a slight pain race through her head when she touched her scar on her forehead. Wufei eyed her cautiously.
"Feeling any better?"
Lea nearly jumped. "What? Oh... oh yeah. Much better." She cleared her throat and absent-mindedly began playing with a strand of her hair. Wufei took a deep breath.
"I'm uh... I'm sorry... for the other night..."
Lea immediately let her strand of hair fall. She lowered her head. "It's alright. I should have told you about X..."
Wufei nodded and left the room. Lea sighed.
Is this how it's going to be from now on? Will I live in fear of that machine being broken?
After breakfast, Lea decided to go looking for another route out of the compound. However, this time no one tried to stop her. She had gained their trust. Lea paused in her search and gazed at her hands. They were bandaged up rather sloppily, the burn marks from the X were dissapearing, but not as soon as Lea would have liked. Heero nearly saw the burns that morning, which Lea tried to hide by wearing her favorite gloves which she wore when she was racing; she took them everywhere. The bandages were peeling off, and more and more of Lea's scars were showing. She had scratched the cut on her face and forehead, the bandages becoming uncomfortable, and now the cuts were once again opened and bleeding somewhat.
"Why me?" she said quietly to herself as she began once again to walk slowly down the hall. She took off the bandages on her head and hands, exposing scars which otherwise would have been completely unknown. She stared at the floor as she walked. "Why... why... why...?"
Lea whispered, and then paused and looked up. Standing in front of her was Trowa. He looked surprised to find her so deep inside the hangar, but what he was most surprised about was how she looked. There was a large scar on her forehead where she had hit the concrete floor, and her hands were burned.
"Lea..." Trowa took a step forward and lightly touched Lea's scar. She flinched a little bit, the scar not being completely healed. Trowa grabbed her by the arm and led her down the hall, to a small room. He shut the door behind him.
"Trowa?" Lea asked, not knowing what to expect from the enigmatic boy. On the wall to Lea's left were small cabinets. Trowa dug around in them until he discovered a large roll of gauze. He began wrapping it gently around Lea's hands.
"Where did you get these burns?"
Lea paused for a moment, trying to consider how she would tell him.
"From X. The wires were electric, and I tried to break them."
"Why?"
"... They hurt me..."
The two were silent for a while. Trowa finished wrapping her hands and then began to attend to the scar on her forehead.
"If the X is so dangerous, then you don't have to pilot it."
"But I've already bonded with him, I can't just..."
"Yes you can. If it's hurting you, then you should stop."
But I don't want to stop. What will I do if I don't pilot X? There's nothing else for me to do, nowhere for me to go. This is my only option, so I'm gonna do it.
Lea stared at the floor once more. Trowa drew the gauze away and looked deep into Lea's eyes.
"Lea, if you choose to pilot X, then I will help in whatever way I can."
Lea smiled and embraced the gundam pilot.
"Thank you."
TO BE CONTINUED
AN: Yay! Some foreshadowing-ness taken care of! I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and please review! . Thanks!
