Newbreed

Disclaimer: I don't own anything this is fanfiction.

This means they are speaking through a telepathic link.

This means they are speaking using telepathy.

This means Trowa and Heero are talking.

Chapter 6: Nature Walk part 2

The next morning everyone got up early in order to prepare for the trip. Cathryne and Sally made breakfast and then Quatra helped them pack a picnic basket for the walk. Trowa and Heero packed a bag with a change of clothes for everyone while Duo showed Wu-Fei a map of the area and the route they were taking since Wu-Fei seemed sure that Duo would get them lost. Once everything was ready the boys headed out.

As soon as they were out of the door Heero changed into a wolf and trotted along at Trowa's heels. At first Duo protested saying that the whole purpose of the trip was to get to know each other but Trowa quietly reminded him of the fact that Heero couldn't speak to them anyway. Trowa told Duo that he would answer any questions that they asked and that if necessary he would ask Heero. Everyone was happy with the solution and Heero stayed in animal form while Trowa stayed human to talk to the others.

"You're always asking about what we are like and so far you haven't really told us anything about yourselves other then the fact that you all hate the Guild. Do you mind answering some of our questions? Like for example why do all of you hate the Guild so much. From what I understand none of you were ever under their control."

Quatra nodded and said that their curiosity was understandable and that they would try to answer as well as they could but that some of it was just too personal. They decided that it would be best to just focus on the reason why they were each fighting the Guild and try not to get into anything too deep. Since Quatra was the telepath he decided that it would probably be best if he went first. He told them that he came from a rich family that had supported the Guild in the past. The scientists had worked closely with his mother and she was even used in some of their experiments and because of this she was told that she could never have kids because the birth would kill her.

"My mother had always wanted a big family and my father had wanted to give that to her. They were contacted by a member of the Guild and told that they could have the family they wanted if they would agree to support some research the Guild was doing. They couldn't pass up the opportunity to have their dreams come true so they agreed to found some of the Guilds experiments. It turned out the Guild only wanted more money and guinea pigs. They created twenty-nine female children and made sure they all came out as Newbreeds. When my parents found out what was really going on they gave up all hope and cut their funding to the Guild. I was born a few years later and my mother died in childbirth like the doctors said would happen. Somehow the Guild found out about me and wanted to use me in their experiments as well but my father refused. The Guild killed my father and got their hands on me. That's were I learned complete control over my gift. My sisters were tortured to death in front of me until M broke me out of there. I fight to get my remaining sisters back and to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else. I don't think anyone should have that kind of control over anyone."

They had taken a break while Quatra gave his reasons for fighting and it was probably a good thing too. Quatra was normally always calm and in control of himself but now he was shaking with anger and near tears with his frustration. The others had never seen him like this before. None of them had ever really heard his story because he was the first one the scientists chose. Duo had always thought of him as the type of guy to do the right thing no matter the circumstances and since he always seemed happy he hadn't given it much thought. Duo quickly rethought his opinion of his teammate and wondered how the blonde could go through what he did and not turn out like Trowa or Heero. Unfortunately for him Quatra was able to pick up on the thought since his shields had gone down with all of the stress. Quatra smiled at him and said that he wasn't actually in Guild control for very long and that he had come from a very loving environment before that so he had something to balance what he experienced within the Guild. He said he was able to keep his sanity because he was able to use his gift and sense a better place out there somewhere and that he was able to keep hope because of that.

Quatra became contemplative after his story and the others thought that it would be best if they left him alone for the time being. They continued on their way to the lake with Duo leading the way. Wu-Fei noticed that Quatra looked a little depressed and decided to try and get his mind off of his bad memories.

"Alright Quatra told you his story now will you answer some of our questions."

Trowa saw how the story had affected Quatra and said that it would be okay if they asked a few questions. Quatra brightened up slightly at the prospect of having his curiosity sated for a while without having to think too much on his sisters. To start things off Duo asked how Trowa and Heero had met.

"Well like I told you after I was approved to be experimented on by S he put me in training with Heero. Heero had already been there for a while and was really screwed up. No offense of course it's just that when I first met you, you weren't all there. Even back then it made me sad seeing you like that."

Trowa was looking at Heero with a haunted look in his eyes but the others couldn't stop staring at him. They hadn't really thought of either of them having any kind of emotions. It was kind of hard to when Trowa never showed any facial features and Heero was usually growling at them in an animal form. Seeing how Trowa looked at Heero made them think of all the things the two must have gone through at the hands of the two demented scientists. Quatra decided that they all needed some cheering up.

"Well that's over with now. At least it is if you want it to be. You don't have to ever go back there again if you don't want to and the other three scientists aren't anything like that."

Quatra was trying to put a positive spin on things but Trowa told him that they would never be free as long as there was a chance they could be recaptured.

"So fight back. If you want to be free of the Guild then fight them. That's the only way to make sure that the Guild can't hurt you anymore. Please will you help us? We need all of the help that we can get and the enemy trained you so you know what they know. Why do you always try and avoid the topic? You never want to talk about fighting the Guild or anything that might be against them. Why is that?"

Duo's outburst made everyone stop again. Wu-Fei and Quatra looked a little uncomfortable with those types of questions even though that is why they came out here. It just didn't seem right to be so blunt about it. But Trowa didn't seem to mind so much as he stopped with the rest of them and answered.

"I suppose that you are right but we were conditioned to blindly follow the Guild no matter what. It is hard to go against that. In fact the only reason that Cathy wasn't killed when she was trying to infiltrate the Guild is because she helped Heero. He had just come out of a training session and when she saw him she was genuinely concerned. I tried to protect her for that."

Quatra told Trowa that everyone appreciated what he did for Cathy. He told Trowa that Cathy was always concerned about other people. She had been ever since she lost her little brother when she was a child. She blames herself and so she tries to take care of everyone to make up for it. Though from the description of her brother and the circumstances of it he guessed that Trowa had reminded her of her brother.

They got back on the trail deciding that the questions could wait until they got to the lake. It didn't take them that long to get there after everyone decided to put an effort into it. Once they were there they unpack everything and set out a blanket and towels to lie on after they got out of the lake. Duo was the first one in followed by Quatra then Wu-Fei at a more leisurely pace. Trowa and Heero sat down on the blanket t first but soon Duo told them that they had gone to the lake to swim and relax so they should get in the water as well. So Trowa and Heero walked to the edge of the water still fully clothed and jumped as far as they could to into the lake while at the last minute the shifted to fish. Duo yelled at the unfairness of it all and Trowa shifted to a walrus and chased him through the water. At first Duo was terrified until he heard laughter in his head. Quatra had put up a mental link between everyone so that they could all communicate telepathically. Since Trowa was having such a good time toying with him Duo decided to turn the tables on him by using his own powers. So just as Trowa was coming up behind Duo to push him under, Duo disappeared. Trowa went right through the space Duo had just been occupying and landed with a loud splash. Duo appeared right behind him and pushed him under just as he surfaced again. When Trowa was finally able to come up for a breath he looked at Duo for a moment then nodded as if he had figured something out. So I guess your power is teleportation. Interesting. Are you also a telekinetic? I heard the two were closely related. At first Duo was surprised at ho fast Trowa caught on to using the telepathic link but then he smirked. Yeah. Telekinesis and teleportation are my powers. Nobody has been able to guess that I had both before though. Duo was interested in where Trowa had learned about his powers. There wasn't much generally known about any of the powers. One of their goals had been to gather that kind of knowledge and put it to use in helping the people that found themselves hunted by the Guild. If they knew about other powers then they could be useful, if they could just get them to talk. Well we were trained to know everything we could about those we were to hunt. We were taught everything the Guild could find out about the Newbreeds.

Trowa knew what Duo wanted from him but he still could not go against his training. He knew that it would only help if he did and that these people that had helped them would not turn on them but it was still so hard to even stay with them without contacting a guild member and turning them in. He struggled with the decision everyday and it was getting to the point where he had to physically stop himself from making the connection. All he had to do was re-establish the telepathic link with one of the other Newbreeds and they would pass the message on. Telepaths were one of the most common types of Newbreeds so the Guild always used them as messengers. He decided that since he wasn't the only one here that it wouldn't be fair if he made the decision by himself. So he decided that he would talk to Heero and they would decide together what they were going to do now.

Duo I know what it is you want from us but I'm not sure if we can do that yet I'm going to take Heero and we will decide what we are going to do now. We will be back soon. Duo looked up in surprise just in time to see two birds fly off from the water. He tried to reply to Trowa only to find that he had cut himself off from the link. He looked around at the others and saw their confusion. They weren't sure what to do and so they got out and started to put out the food.

They waited for as long as they could but there was no sign of Trowa or Heero. On the walk back they kept an eye out for anything that would indicate the other two having passed through the area but there was nothing. When they got home they had to explain what happened to the others. No one took the news well and it was decided that the scientists should be informed. Quatra volunteered to contact them. The scientists weren't happy about it and thought that Trowa and Heero might have gone back to the Guild. They suggested moving everyone but no one was willing to leave before giving Trowa and Heero a chance to get back. It took two days but they did eventually go back to the house.

When they walked through the door Duo was making a sandwich and ended up dropping the jar of mayonnaise on the floor. Quatra heard him from the living room and went to see what had happened. He was so happy to see them that he almost ran up and hugged Trowa, fortunately he remembered how they reacted to being touched and held himself back. Quatra ran and got the others and everyone sat down in the living room to talk.

"I know that we have caused you problems and that we have been a security risk to you, but despite that you still let us stay here. I wanted to say that we both appreciate that more than you can know. I also know that you want us to help you fight the Guild, if not physically then with the information that we posses. So we have decided that since you helped us then we will help you. We will do whatever you want us to in order to help you."

Trowa's speech held everyone in place for a few moments until Dou broke out into a huge grin and started to laugh. Quatra was said that it was great that they had finally decided to help and that anything they would be willing to do would be welcomed. At that moment however there was suddenly a deep growling and Heero sat up from his position at Trowa's feet and lunged at Duo turning into a black panther in the air. Duo started screaming as Heero dug his claws into Duo's body and sunk his teeth into Duo's neck.

Stop! Heero it's okay. You have to calm down.

Before anyone could really react to the attack it stopped. Heero was still in the form of a black panther but he was just pacing and growling now instead of biting and clawing. Sally ran up to Duo and started to heal him but there was blood everywhere and the wound on his throat wouldn't close. Wu-Fei and Quatra got some towels from the bathroom while Merian and Cathryne found some bandages in the kitchen. Hilde was staring in shock at Duo's throat until she head Heero growling. She turned on him and started yelling.

"What did you do that for! What is wrong with you? Are you insane!"

She kept yelling at him until Trowa walked over and slapped her across the face. She looked up at him about to yell again when he told her that she needed to calm down because she was in shock. After a few minutes Hilde had calmed down and was checking on duo while every few seconds shooting glares over her shoulder at Heero who was still growling in panther form. Sally had finally managed to close the throat wound but she said that there would be a noticeable scar. For some reason her powers had worked perfectly on his stomach wounds but wouldn't work very well on his throat. Sally told Wu-Fei to carry Duo to his bed and said that he would probably sleep for a few days. Hilde glared over at Heero and then looked up at Trowa and demanded to know why Duo was attacked.

"I am sorry for that but you have to understand that there are just some things that will have one meaning to you and a completely different one for us. When Duo laughed he just set Heero off that's all."

"That's outrageous, you can't expect us to believe that. Laughter turns him homicidal! What a joke. If you didn't want to stay here all you had to do was say so there was no need for what Heero did."

Hilde was enraged at Trowa's explanation. She was angry that Duo was hurt, she was angry that their new friends were the ones that hurt him and she was frustrated that she couldn't do anything to change it. Looking at Hilde Trowa saw all of this and knew that the others were probably feeling pretty close to that and he knew that he was in for another long explanation. He didn't understand how they could know so little about the people they were fighting. They knew that the Guild used Newbreeds as slaves and that was about all. They never thought about how these slaves were being treated or anything like that he was just so frustrated with them. When he heard that Quatra had been in Guild custody he had thought that maybe one of them knew what it was like but he was wrong. Quatra was a very strong tele-empath and had been treated pretty well because of that. Plus he had never had the 'honor' of either J or S's interest. Now he had to try to explain to them that when the only time you have ever heard laughter is when you are in complete and total agony because the one laughing is torturing you for the third day straight that it tends to make you uncomfortable to hear someone laugh. And unfortunately Heero tended towards violence in such situations. Trowa did his best to explain why Heero acted like he did but they didn't really seem to understand.

"Look it doesn't seem like you understand this so I'm going to try it one last time. We were in training everyday of the week. We trained for twelve hours every day and on Monday and Sunday we were tortured for the other twelve while on the rest of the days it was either ten or eight hours of torture depending on whether or not we studied or slept. Six hours of sleep a week is not enough to stay sane on. We were under Guild control for most of our lives, hell probably all of his. I don't think that you can understand what that means. So I will give you this warning, there is no guarantee that something like this won't happen again but I will try my hardest to prevent it though there is no certainty on what will set off another incident. We are still willing to help you if you are still willing to let us."

Trowa finished his little speech and sat back to try and calm Heero down some more. The others said that they needed to talk and went into the other room. He knew that he would have to let them come to their own conclusions but hoped it would be in their favor. There were a million different things that could set Heero off and cause more problems then were necessary but he knew that there was no way for Heero to get any better then by staying in this type of environment with these people. He had been trying for years to help Heero but he couldn't do it all alone and especially not at the Guild. That place was just making him worse and pretty soon there wouldn't be anything left of Heero but the animal side. J had screwed his mind up really bad and he was almost completely insane. It would be impossible for anyone or anything to control him except that J had broken him into submission.

When Trowa saw Heero for the first time there was a click in his brain and he suddenly knew that the small boy in front of him was exactly the same as he was. They could both change into animals. It was amazing Trowa had never met anyone who could do what he could before. When he was with the mercenaries he had used his 'skill' to kill people but he had always enjoyed just lounging around in the sun in one of his animal forms. Now these Guild people were going to have him killing again but maybe they would let him be with the boy who had the same skill, what these people called a curse, as he did. (A/N I am working on a side story of when Trowa and Heero meet. Hopefully it will be out soon.) Trowa had managed to get through to him when others could not because of their gifts being the same plus the fact that he hadn't wanted anything from Heero. Apparently his animal side could sense the intentions of those around him and he didn't like what most people wanted.

When something happened that he didn't like he made sure that all the workers knew it. Sometimes he went to far and ended up killing some of the workers. The first time that happened J had found it amusing and so had done nothing. After the second time J had a special collar made just for Heero. Whenever Heero got out of control J would electrocute him with the collar. Even after they escaped and Trowa took off the collar Heero had replaced it with one he saw someone wearing. When Trowa had asked him why Heero told him that he needed it. Trowa understood that he needed some of the same things. That he couldn't just suddenly change everything even if he had agreed to fight against the Guild but Trowa really wanted to help Heero to not need those things.

It was going to take a lot of work but since they were away from the Guild and they could control what happened to them and what they did Trowa was hoping it would help. The first thing that they had tried to do was to get a different schedule but they hadn't managed to change it too much. As it turned out neither of them could sleep for very long so they needed something to do while the others slept. In the end they started training when they couldn't sleep and since there was no one to torture them they took up that time studying.

The others walked back into the room after about half an hour and while everyone sat down to talk again Hilde left with Sally to go check on Duo. With everyone in the same room Trowa asked Heero if he would change to a different form to put everyone more at ease. Heero obliged by changing into a house cat and curling up on Trowa's lap. Quatra told them that they had decided to let them stay as long as it was okay with Duo. They were welcome to stay until he got better as well. Trowa thanked them and said that it would probably be best if everyone turned in a little bit early that night. Everyone agreed and headed off to bed after checking on Duo and making sure he was still asleep.

TBC….

Sorry for the late update…hmm seems like I'm saying that every chapter. Well I am sorry and I will try to work on updating faster. Please reaview!