Ah ha, seventh chapter, and this one is a good one. This is a chapter where some odd mystery comes in. So good! Read and review!
Trowa gave a grunt of pain as something woke him up suddenly by falling on him, knocking the wind out of him. He caught his breath and turned his emerald eyes on Duo. He watched Duo sigh in relief as his violet eyes recognized the bedroom, then relax, beginning to breathe again. He rolled off Trowa's arm and lay on the floor, rubbing his hands down his face as he blinked. Trowa recognized the symptoms of a nightmare from Duo's shaky hands and he reached up and handed Duo the sketchbook and pencil without a word.
"Thanks, Tro," Duo breathed, sitting up and taking it. "Sorry for waking you up."
Trowa blinked and looked up at the window, where the rays of early morning shone in to light up the room. "It's morning," he replied simply, then settled himself in the plush chair they had moved into Duo's room. He watched Duo open the sketchbook to a fresh piece of paper and poise the pencil tip upon it. Duo stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and his brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to remember, then he began to draw. Trowa silently observed, still waking up, as Duo's hand moved across the paper in clean, neat strokes. Trowa simply sat and thought as Duo drew. He saw Duo relax after a while and calm down, and he thanked Quatre inside once again for coming up with the idea. The sketchbook was half full already. Some dreams Duo could put on one page, others took five. Trowa wondered if they would ever be allowed access to those dark pictures. Not right now, that was for sure.
Trowa watched Duo draw for three hours, filling up eight pages with complete sketches. When Duo finished and closed the book with a sigh, Trowa saw his hand was still slightly shaking. When Duo had been holding the pencil, he had been constantly moving his hand, and only now Trowa could see Duo was still unnerved about the nightmare. It must have been a long one, since it had filled up eight pages worth.
"What say you to breakfast, Tro-man?" Duo asked, standing up. His old bullet wounds had healed over and he was walking good as new, though he claimed it throbbed when he ran.
Trowa stood up and followed Duo down the stairs to the kitchen. It was around seven o'clock now, so Trowa decided to treat them to breakfast. The rest of the house should be up in a half hour or so, excluding Heero who was currently waiting in the kitchen for them. He pulled Duo's braid and kissed Trowa in greeting, then retreated to looking over work as he had been doing before. Trowa set to work on preparing a brilliant waffle, bacon, and sausage meal, and soon the smell of it had Duo drooling and Wufei and Quatre coming to investigate. They decided to sit at the counter top on the stools, since Duo claimed he couldn't wait for it to be moved to the diningroom, and soon they had all begun eating.
"Mmm, Trowa, this is really good," Quatre said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, little one," Trow replied.
"How'd last night go?" Quatre asked, doing his interrogation.
"Nightmare," Trowa stated. "Early this morning."
"He sketched it out, right?" Quatre asked, and Trowa nodded. "Good."
"You okay, Duo?" Trowa heard Wufei ask, and he looked to Duo, who was staring fixatedly on one of the small yet sharp knives Trowa had supplied to everyone to cut the sausages with. He held the end in his hand, staring at the blade.
"Duo, put it down," Heero ordered.
Duo chuckled for a moment, then threw it into the air. It spun and he caught it with the handle down. Before anyone could blink, Duo slammed it straight down into the table, right through his hand.
"Duo!" Quatre yelled in alarm as blood began to spread. Duo's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he slumped forward, unconscious. Trowa blinked, staring at the knife in Duo's hand. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and it was scaring him. Duo suddenly stirred and his head lifted. Duo looked at his hand and hissed.
"What the hell?" he exclaimed, pulling the knife out and throwing it away as if it was hot iron. He pulled his hand to his chest. "Damnit! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." Trowa's eyes narrowed. This was all getting a little odd.
"Are you crazy?" Wufei yelled at Duo, who blinked in surprise. "What the hell are you thinking?"
"Why are you yelling at me?" Duo asked. "What'd I do?"
"What did you do?" Wufei replied. "What did you do!"
Trowa stepped in to explain why Wufei was mad, since the chinese boy was a bit too angry to speak clearly. "You stabbed a knife through your hand, Duo," he said calmly, though inside he was raging with confusion.
"I what!" Duo yelled, then his eyes angered. "Stop joking around. This isn't funny. Now, who did it?" He held out his hand, which was covered in blood.
"We all saw you, Duo," Heero said. "You took the knife, and put it through your hand. You did it."
"I...but...," Duo was looking very confused. "I didn't...I don't remember doing that. I was just eating bacon and suddenly I've got a knife in my hand! And I mean literally IN!"
"You don't remember doing this?" Quatre held up Duo's hand, and Duo shook his head, his violet eyes perplexed. Quatre let go of Duo's hand and began to think. Trowa could tell by the way he bit his lip ever so slightly.
"Duo, come," Trowa stood. "We have to bandage your injury."
"Uh, sure, okay," Duo followed Trowa obediently. Trowa heard the three remaining ones begin to discuss this strange turn of events. Trowa led Duo to the large washroom and brought out the bandages. He tended to the deep wound in silence, cleaning it up. Duo seemed to be feeling a little awkward, since he kept running his good hand over his eyes and through his messy morning hair. Trowa himself preferred not to break the silence, since silence was his best friend. He thought best then.
"Trowa, am I going insane?"
"No," Trowa replied, with a twinkle of amusment in his eyes.
"I must be insane," Duo muttered, ignoring Trowa's statement. "Why else would I stab myself and not remember?"
"You are not insane, Duo," Trowa replied. "Possessed, maybe. Psychotic, yes. Insane, no."
Duo blinked and looked at Trowa oddly. "Was that a joke? From silent Trowa?"
Trowa withheld a sigh, for the millionth time. Just because he was silent and preferred to think more than talk didn't mean he didn't have a sense of humor. He had one, and it was very good, he just didn't show it often. But if Trowa had to hold in his sighs any more, he would explode of unexhaled air. He decided to let it go this time, again, since Duo needed every opportunity now to joke and smile.
"Ow, ow, ow...!" Duo muttered under his breath as Trowa sterilized the wound.
"You recieve two bullet wounds and act normal, yet you can't handle a little thing like this?" Trowa teased. He knew his statement wasn't a valid argument. Duo had had reason-to his mind-to hide his bullet wounds, but since everyone knew about this one, he didn't hide the pain. Rather, he seemed to embellish it. He always emphasized the little things and ignored the large ones.
Duo growled once more as Trowa poured sme more of the stinging liquid onto his cut. "You're torturing me for what I did to myself, aren't you?" he accused with a pout, then sighed. "What's the verdict, doc?"
"You are lucky it was a very tiny knife. It missed your bone just barely."
"I can't believe I stabbed myself," Duo mumbled as Trowa dried his hand and began to wrap it.
"It wasn't you."
"Huh?" Duo looked at Trowa for an explanation.
"It was your physical self, but it wasn't truly you, Duo Maxwell," Trowa explained. "Your eyes turned black."
Duo stared at Trowa for a good full minute. "Black...?"
"It was very subtle," Trowa continued. "I doubt the others noticed. But your normally dark violet eyes shaded to a rather dark black just before you stabbed yourself."
Duo stared at Trowa for another good minute. "Black."
"Yes," Trowa confirmed as he tied off Duo's bandage and stood up. "Would you like me to tell the others about this or not?"
Duo looked into Trowa's eyes, violet meeting emerald green, and Trowa saw incredible thanks relayed to him through the gaze. "I'd rather you didn't, thanks," the braided wonder said after a moment. "Just...just let them think I'm going insane or something...you guys are helping me already a lot-really, you are-but I just want to deal with this one on my own, 'kay?"
Trowa nodded and went to the door. He opened it, Duo still sitting in a thinking stupor on the toilet seat. "If you ever need someone to talk to, Duo..."
Duo looked up and met Trowa's gaze again, and after a moment of hesitation, he spoke in a low, slightly relieved whisper. "Thanks, Tro. I'll keep that in mind. Tell the others...I'll be out in a sec. I just want to think for a moment." He sighed wearily as Trowa looked sternly at him. "I won't try anything. Besides, even if I did, I'd be found out the moment I left and then I'd be pummeled by Heero and Quatre and Wufei. And despite what it may seem like, I DO want to live. Very much, actually. I...just needed the pain for awhile."
Trowa's eyes widened somewhat. Duo had never given anyone the slightest hint of why he had cut himself. Quatre had naturally accounted it to wanting to die but not having the guts, and then being related to the nightmares. But Duo didn't want to die. Yet he needed to feel pain. Trowa withheld a sigh of pain for the tortured boy they all loved so much and nodded, then left quietly, leaving Duo alone to think.
Now he just had the monumental task of explaining to Quatre why he had left Duo alone in a bathroom full of razors.
That is it! It was oddly surprising to myself, when I wrote it! HEHEH! Review, pretty please!