Chapter 7

At the door to the camp, Quatre hesitated. He wanted so much to be what was expected of him, but he knew the moment he walked beyond these doors he'd be a terrible mess. Part of him trusted Rashid on a level he wasn't sure he could comprehend if he tried. The man was so different from anyone else Quatre had ever known, and it both worried and strengthened him.

"Quatre, are you alright?" Rashid was looking down at him in concern and Quatre ached to stop this man from worrying about him, he just wasn't used to it.

"I-its…there're a lot of…people in there." His voice was quiet as he responded to Rashid, knowing the man expected an answer.

Rashid nodded absently. "Yes, but you do not need to fear any of them. I told you, no one here will harm you."

Quatre quickly nodded his agreement, he trusted in Rashid to keep the men from him, under any circumstance. But how could he explain to this man about his abilities. He knew that Rashid already knew of them, but still, to throw himself to the lions was far more than he was comfortable doing.

"T-there are just a lot of them…thinking at once…" He left his sentence hanging open and hoped Rashid would understand.

"And feeling. Yesterday, as we walked through the camps did you feel their emotions?" The question was spoken without condemnation and Quatre thought it safe to answer truthfully.

"Not individually…group thoughts…it's…painful."

"Painful to be around so many people?"

He nodded, afraid what this would do to Rashid's plans for him. He didn't need to worry.

"I want you to become more comfortable with people, it is important for you as a person and as a Maguanac, but I understand if this is not something you can do right now. Will you be all right if you stay here? I will return with Abdule shortly. If not, I will take you back to—"

Happy with the decision, and not wanting to press his luck further, Quatre quickly agreed.

"I can stay."

Rashid looked torn for a moment before nodding once, telling him to stay right here, and then exiting, leaving Quatre alone for a moment.

He took a deep breath, the weight of pleasing Rashid taken from him for a moment. He knew that Rashid would return shortly, but it was nice to be alone for a second to just breathe.

It didn't last long.

Suddenly the door swooshed open and three boys not that much older than himself ambled through, two of them locked together at the mouth and hip.

"I can't believe you're doing this in front of me! The two of you are just damn cruel you know that! I'm tempted to just throw cold water on you both!" A boy with a long braid yelled, obviously annoyed by the locked lips of his companions, not to mention the slight gyration of their hips together.

Stunned by this very public display, Quatre squeaked before pushing himself against the wall, his eyes searching for an escape.

His sound caught their attention and before his eyes the boy with the shaggy dark brown hair and the Chinese boy broke apart, all at the same time the braided boy invaded his immediate personal space.

"Hey! You're Quatre, right? I'm Duo, this here's Heero, and that's Wufei. They're being bastards right now so just ignore them. What're you doing out here?"

Quatre looked fearfully at the boy before him, and then the shaggy brunet called Heero, before turning to glance quickly that the Chinese boy, Wufei. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. He was frightened, the shaking returning once again to his limbs as the braided boy looked on in horror.

"Oh, hey now! Um, it's ok. Look see, they're not really bastards, just jerks. Oh, come on kid, it's alright." Quatre saw the hand before it touched him. He was beginning to think that people all over the world just touched each other at random!

In an instinctive reaction, he swung around so he was facing the wall, covering himself from the attack he expected any moment.

"What?!"

"Duo, move away from him slowly, you've scared him." The voice was a deep monotone, but there was a sense of command in it that Quatre responded too against his will. Sinking to his knees, he huddled against the wall, the shaking continuing against his will.

"Heero! I didn't do anything, I swear it! I just said 'hi' and the kid went nuts! I didn't even touch him!"

"Duo, calm down!" This voice was different, softer than the first, but commanding all the same. "Something that you did scared him. It's not your fault, but keep your distance. Heero, run down to Rashid's and get him. I don't know how Quatre wandered out here but we need to get him to Rashid."

"Hai!" There was the sound of running footsteps on metal plating boards before Quatre felt a presence very close to him.

"Quatre, my name is Wufei, I am a doctor. You do not have to be afraid. Duo didn't mean to frighten you, he was only saying hello."

Hello?! That couldn't be possible, the boy had tried to touch him! He didn't even know this boy and he'd tried to touch him! But he did nothing, just continued to shake soundlessly in his corner space.

"Yeah, Quatre, I can be such a baka sometimes. Really! I'm sorry I freaked you out. Look, why don't you…um, stop shaking and I'll get you a soda!"

He heard what sounded like someone hitting someone else.

"Fei, what was that for?!"

"What is it with you and your stomach! Not everyone is ruled by their hungers like you are!"

A husky tone entered Duo's voice. "But I thought you liked it when I was ruled by my hungers."

What were these guys talking about, and why were they doing it so close to him!? He wanted to scream at them to get away from him, that they were too close, that he didn't like it. He wanted to call out the safe word he'd just learned, but Rashid was gone, leaving him alone, and that terrified Quatre to the point where he was silently praying for the giant's return.

Loud, running footsteps were his only answer.

"Rashid's not there and neither is Abdule." Heero's breath was not even slightly winded even though he'd just run both ways down the corridor.

Wufei spoke something in Chinese. "Well, we can't move him and we can't leave him here."

"Maybe if we coax him out, you know, like slap our legs and call him a good boy."

"Duo! He's not a dog!"

"Hey, it works on you, Heero!"

A growl was his only response.

The shaking hadn't stopped or subsided and now with all three of them there Quatre felt even more helpless than he had before. And it only got worse.

"Heero?" The new voice was soft and gentle, a breathy voice that spoke of softness and a hidden strength.

"Zechs. It's Quatre. We found him in the hallway and when Duo tried to talk to him, he got frightened." The words were spoken in a rush, as if the boy was glad to relate the tale to this new person, relieved that he'd come to take care of him and the thing he couldn't handle.

"Dragon? What's going on?" Another new voice, this one airy as well, but with a definite note of aristocracy.

"Just as Heero said. Rashid and Abdule are not in their apartment and Quatre is extremely frightened. He's curled in on himself." There was a new sound to Wufei's voice to and Quatre noted that it had also been in Heero's as well. Relief was there, yes, but so was this new tone, the sound of the boys talking to someone they trusted, respected, and expected to make things better.

"Treize, I didn't do anything! I just said 'Hi' to him, and he flipped! I reached out to him and the next thing I knew he was freaking out and then just sank to the floor! I didn't even get a chance to tease him!"

The air around him moved slightly, and he knew if he looked up, he'd be looking at the man identified as Treize.

"Quatre, my name is Treize, second general of the Maguanacs. Can you tell me if you are alright?"

He couldn't move, couldn't speak, the terror of having so many around him closed off his throat and refused to let air in or out. His shaking body taxed his limited energies, until he felt like crying in frustration. They were too close and he just knew if they tried to touch him the rest of his splintered world would shatter.

"Quatre? Can you hear me?" Treize again, and some part of Quatre knew that the touch of this man's hand was coming. He tensed against it.

"Don't." The word was spoken quietly, followed by the swooshing of the door again.

Startled, he heard Zechs speak. "Trowa?"

Again, that monotone voice sounded, this one unlike Heero's in anyway. There was no emotion behind the sound, nothing at all that could be considered emotion. It was a cold and lifeless sound, one used to communicate words alone and nothing more. Hollow.

"You're too close to him. Step aside. If you touch him, he won't be able to cope."

Treize's voice sounded astonished. "Trowa, how do you know this?"

There was no reply, but Quatre saw two boots enter his huddled downcast vision, and at their stance, he felt Treize and the others move away.

At once those boots moved back as well and again he heard Trowa's voice, this time directed solely at him and filled with more emotion than he'd thought possible to the dead sound he'd heard before.

"They are away from you, Quatre. When you're ready, you can stand without fear." Every word spoke of understanding, every syllable a note of acceptance. This "Trowa" was speaking a language Quatre understood, knew because it was his own.

Slowly he looked up, the shaking still making everything vibrate to his vision.

Trowa was a boy, not much older than he was, perhaps seventeen or eighteen. A strange mass of brown hair seemed to cover half of his face, while the other half shone through. Tan skin from South American origins was flawless, and thin lips seemed to go beautifully with his face. The eye Quatre could see was the color of water submerged emeralds in the tropical sun. It was that eye that held him, the expressiveness of this boy not in his lengthy body, but his eyes, betraying emotions that Quatre read like the pages of a book.

Trowa knew him, had always known him, wanted to know him better. Compassion and kindness were there, an understanding on a deeper level than even Rashid could boast. This boy was ethereal and mortal at the same time, godly and natural to the naked eye. Locked together they stared at one another, both knowing this moment would one-day come, and neither really accepting that their search was over. They were one and the same, but different individuals and consciousnesses too. He'd missed Trowa so much and felt the answering loneliness in return.

He spoke when the shaking stopped.

"I know you."

Trowa nodded.

"How?"

Trowa shook his head, he didn't know either, maybe less than Quatre himself.

Trowa's voice was again full of emotion.

"Do you feel better?"

He nodded. "I can feel."

"So can I."

"Um, does someone want to fill the rest of us in on this creepy exchange happening here?"

Shaking his head Quatre reeled back from Trowa, blinking his eyes at the boy who seemed to be doing the same. They continued to stare at each other, neither talking nor answering the question they felt telepathically hammering against their minds by those behind them.

Absently he heard the door swoosh open yet again before startling completely at the use of his name.

"Quatre!"

He looked up quickly to find Rashid and Abdule moving to squat next to him. But the emotional and strange encounter with Trowa left him feeling numb. He didn't notice when Rashid's hand gently and lightly clasped his arm.

"Quatre are you alright?"

He nodded to the question, his eyes once again gazing at Trowa.

"Rashid, I didn't do it!" This was Duo, and the braided boy went into a tirade about what had happened. Beside him, he felt Abdule place his hand over his, only to have him snatch his own hand away, his body awakening to those around him.

"Quatre are you alright? Can you say something so I know you're ok?"

"He's fine." This came from Trowa. And then the tall boy was standing and Quatre realized he was much taller than he'd first thought. They exchanged another look that Quatre once again thought was familiar before he moved to the door and vanished from sight.

"Man, is that boy creepy."

"Duo, for once, shut up!"

"Geese, soooorrrrrrryyyyyy!"

"Quatre?" This time it was Rashid, the proud man was kneeling next to him, concern and a self-berating expression across his stricken face. Quatre didn't want that.

"I-I'm fine. Just…too many…people." He shivered involuntarily, and then suddenly felt himself lifted by the strong man. Surprised, he struggled violently, kicking and squirming at the contact, frightened at the suddenness of it. "NO! Let go!"

"Quatre, calm down." It was a command, and Quatre's flailing halted as if on his muscles' own accord. The shaking returned, but he turned his head, burying his face into Rashid's shoulder as the man spoke calmly to him as he moved towards their apartment.

"I am sorry I left you, Quatre. We will be home in a moment and then I will let you down. I am so sorry I left you."

Quatre wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault that he'd wanted to be alone for a moment but that the people's sudden appearance had frightened him in some profound way. He wanted to tell Rashid to go back and get Trowa, to bring the boy back that had somehow managed to call up those strange emotions in him. But he said nothing, allowing Rashid to carry his lifeless body back to the apartment.

Once inside, Rashid quickly set him down, and Quatre scrambled away, backing towards the couch, before sitting in the middle and drawing his knees up to his chest. The shaking was again fading, and as his brain began to work again he closed his eyes to ground himself. His voice startled Rashid, himself, and Abdule.

"I-I'm ok. It's-it's not your…fault. I just…it was just…I—"

Rashid cut him off.

"I should have never left you there, Quatre. I did not consider anyone coming through. I am sorry."

But he continued as if Rashid had not spoken, awe in his voice.

"You-you came back…for me. You…didn't leave me…alone. I'm alright."

Shock was evident on Rashid's face, but Abdule spoke happily and with much mirth.

"'Course he came back, Quatre. We'll always come for you when you need us. Rashid likes to act the part of a martyr sometimes, but he's human and screws up just like the rest of us. Glad to see that you're having such a nice morning. Want some lunch?"

Two pairs of incredulous eyes looked up at him.

"What? Quatre said he's ok, you're about two seconds from flogging yourself, and I want to eat. You know, some of us didn't get breakfast this morning. What do you say, Quatre, health shake, protein shake, or just your general, this tastes like crap shake? You're pick."

Surprised, he just nodded his head. Abdule had a way of setting him at ease while still confusing him.

"Um, well since you seem to be without decision, I'll just mix them all together. Who knows, something good just might come of it." Shrugging his shoulders, Abdule moved to the kitchen, and Quatre's eyes wandered to Rashid's slumped form by the chair he'd sat in only that morning.

He decided to try again.

"I'm not hurt."

Rashid looked at him. "I know, but you could have been."

Quatre didn't say anything to that. He decided to do something that Rashid had told him he could, both testing the waters, and trying to ease the suffering he felt in waves off the man.

"Aft-after lunch,…can…I have another shower?"

That seemed to break the spell Rashid was under, and Quatre saw Abdule turn to look at him from the kitchen.

"If you like."

Quatre just nodded his head.