Chapter One - It Starts
Quatre POV
The boy was blinking at me in shock as I stared up at him. I was also shocked, but it was mostly at the sight of the wild - almost feral – gaze and at the feeling of fearpainconfusion he was projecting. I jerked my hand, motioning for the other pilots to stay still. I could sense Duo making his way over, and he seemed to pick up on the seriousness of the situation. He just stopped.
Much to the surprise of Wu Fei and Trowa, and apparently to the boy, I smiled tentatively. "Hello." I spoke quietly, soothingly. "You must be the final Gundam pilot." Prussian blue eyes narrowed at me and I squashed the desire to shiver and the cold gaze and the sudden onslaught of distrust. "My name is Quatre. I pilot the Gundam Sandrock, also known as zero-four." I continued in the same soothing tone.
The boy tilted his head confusiondistrust and slowly got up. He stood on shaky legs as I pushed myself up and attempted to dust myself off. It didn't work well and I realized that I had ruined another pair of trousers and a shirt.
"You're a pilot?" The boy rasped. His voice was gruff and I could hear the distrust in his tone, as well as feel it. I took a moment to scan his injuries through his tattered clothing before nodding: lacerations along his entire body, bruising, a gunshot wound in his shoulder and a graze along his upper thigh. I couldn't really see his back from my position but I figured that it had to be as bad as - or worse than - the wounds I could see.
"Yes. The same as you. All of us are pilots." Blue eyes swept past me to look at Duo, and then he shifted to study Wu Fei and Trowa. The feral look was gone, replaced by coldness and, again, distrust
"Surely your commander told you about us." Wu Fei spoke up, using a different tactic but using the same relaxing tone I was. The boy startled and I got a flash of pain from the boy than nearly made ME keel over. I knew without a doubt that he was fighting to remain conscious and upright.
"Affirmative." I could see Wu Fei nod almost unnoticeably.
"We were all given orders to meet, and stay here, for the time being." He revealed. The pilot nodded uncertainly. "Then there is no need to attack us. Or run." Wu Fei said matter-of-factly.
"We have a room ready for you. And a bath…" I spoke up hesitantly. The pilot turned his attention back to me, although he kept an eye out for the others, and I noticed that he was slightly more relaxed. He was still very tense and ready to spring into action, which pointed to intense training. I combined his mannerisms with the fact that he was injured yet still fighting….and deduced that he was one heck of a soldier.
"Bath…?" I caught the wistful feeling rushing though him before he successfully blocked it.
"Yes. It's ready and warm. Wu Fei put some of his healing balms in it for you." He tensed and Wu Fei began to speak, naming the different liquids he used. I could feel the pilot slipping, losing the fight to stay conscious as Wu Fei spoke.
"What is your name?" I asked once Wu Fei was done. Hesitance. "I already told you mine. The boy you were just listening to is Wu Fei. The boy behind him is Trowa, and the one behind me is Duo."
"Code names?" I shook my head. Confusion.
"Not mine." I said. Wu Fei also shook his head, but Trowa and Duo shrugged. "Duo and Trowa named themselves." I supplied. "We all use different names or our numerical codes during missions." I said. This made him relax marginally. "We use our names amongst ourselves to promote camaraderie."
"You can call me Heero. Heero Yuy." He finally said in response. I nodded and smiled again.
"Well Heero, let's go inside and you can get cleaned up." After a brief moment of hesitation he nodded and began to walk slowly towards the house, favoring his left ankle. "Are you hungry?" I asked once he reached my side. I began walking beside him, keeping a respectful distance.
"Iie." I turned my head to look at him.
"It's Japanese." Wu Fei spoke up from behind, in response to my confusion. "He said 'no'." We reached the house. The door was already open and Duo was waiting inside, watching Heero curiously. Thankfully the Deathscythe pilot chose to stay silent. From the sudden wary feeling from Heero, Duo's normal greeting would have pushed him back into the previous feelings of fear, pain, confusion, and probably would have made the injured boy run.
"Oh. But you must be! I'll make something light." I insisted. Heero gave me a look and I felt the astonishment. "It's no problem. I might as well make something for everyone. It's late enough for dinner."
"I'll show him the bathroom, and his room." Wu Fei offered before Duo could. I nodded and Heero shifted. Wu Fei began to move up the stairs and I watched Heero limp after him.
"Duo, you can help me." I said before Duo could make it to the stairs. Trowa seated himself at the kitchen table.
"But I wanna go introduce myself!" Duo pouted. But he moved with me to the cabinets to get ingredients for spaghetti.
"Leave him be for now. I know you don't mean any harm but Duo….he's not like us." I said. "I can feel it. There's something…." I held a hand to my heart to emphasize my point.
"Your coconut giving you trouble?" Duo asked, as always butchering the title.
"Not trouble. But the emotions I sensed from him were…well, it felt like he was hiding them, or trying to. They felt different than ours too, they had an almost animal-like feeling to them and they seemed…broken. They were really cloudy and I could barely sense him." I explained as I filled a large pot with water.
"He was dampering them then?" Trowa asked in quiet surprise.
"It takes years to learn how to do that!" Duo exclaimed as I turned the stove on. He pulled out a box of the spaghetti noodles and a smaller pot for the sauce. "He must have been trained well."
"Too well." I muttered. "He's too….inhuman isn't the right word, but it's the only word I can think of to use. Duo, I want you to be careful." Duo blinked. "Don't treat him like you do us. I don't think he will take it too well."
"How can you tell?" Duo asked.
"I can feel it. He can hold back most of his emotions and feelings. And he feels like the type to shoot first and ask questions later." Trowa let out a soft snort. "I could barely read him…." And it bothered me.
The rest of the time spent cooking dinner was silent.
Heero POV
I followed the Asian boy - Wu Fei - up the short staircase. I could hear the small blond - Quatre - talking to the American – Duo - telling him more or less to leave me be. That was fine with me. I didn't really want to be around people anyway. I've been alone for most of my life, and it suited me just fine.
"Here's the bath room." Wu Fei stopped outside a closed door. "The bath is ready for you. I suggest you not add or release water. The medicines I put in need the amount that's already in there in order to work properly." I nodded. "It should still be warm; there is a heater that you can turn up if you need it warmer."
"Arigatou." I muttered. Wu Fei gave me a look.
"Dou-itashimashite." He replied. "You're room is one door down." He motioned to the only room with the door closed. I nodded and stepped into the bathroom. I closed the door in his face and locked it.
I kicked off my ruined sneakers and peeled off my tattered socks. I ignored the swollen ankle the best I could and continued to pull off my tank top - or rather its tatters - and my shorts. A few knives that the soldiers missed when I was captured dropped out as I tugged the shorts off and I kicked them towards the door.
Finally nude I stepped into the large tub and settled into the warm water. I winced as the water lapped at the lacerations over my body, but eventually the medications numbed the pain. I sank into the warmth up to my neck. I soaked for a good ten minutes, pondering the pilot that called himself Quatre.
The boy was an empath. My mind was sensitive enough that I could feel him as he reached out with his mind, touching mine. I barely had enough time to block my emotions, and I knew he had felt the confusion and pain before I could successfully block. But then I became distracted by the Asian boy as he spoke about what he had been ordered and I could hear the blond as he had gasped. I had allowed some of my pain to broadcast when I turned a little too quickly.
I shook my head before pulling one of the wash clothes off the hook, determined to block my emotions better so that the empath would not be able to read me. I lathered the cloth with some soap and began to scrub at my face, then neck, shoulders, chest, back, and legs.
Blood and grime peeled off, staining the water. I ignored the disgusting color and scrubbed, paying special attention to the open wounds. I scrubbed them until they bled again, thoroughly cleaning them. Bruises were ignored. The bullet in my shoulder needed to be taken out so I dug my fingers in until the wound was gaping and I could pry the piece of metal out of the bone. I threw it across the room and saw it roll under the door.
A shadow moved and I realized that Wu Fei was still standing there. He must have picked the bullet up. I returned to my work and scrubbed the shoulder until I deemed it clean. Then I poked and prodded at my ankle until I diagnosed it as having a few small hairline fractures.
"Heero?" I looked up. That was Quatre's voice. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Will you need help with your wounds?" I contemplated the answer.
"Ha…yes. It would be appreciated." I finally said, deciding to have one of the others bandage my wounds.
"Okay. Trowa will wait for you in your room then. Would you like to eat in your room or with us?"
"My room." I heard a soft, almost disappointed, sigh.
"Okay. I'll ready you a plate." I almost felt bad for hurting the small boy's feelings. Almost. With a sigh I stood up from the tub and let the water drain out. I wobbled as I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my waist. There was a robe on the door but I left that. It would have to come off when I had my wounds treated anyway.
I opened the door and stepped out to find the hall empty. I made my way to 'my room' and paused briefly when I saw Trowa by the desk. His posture was relaxed and his hands were in sight, so I slowly made my way to the bed. "We'll do your back first. Do you want to sit or lay?" He spoke softly.
"Sit." He nodded and moved slowly as I sat. I tensed when he sat behind me with the first aid supplies. I could hear him spreading things out on the bed and forced myself to relax. Finally he quieted and I could hear a soft inhalation.
"What did this?" At first I though he meant the wounds, but then a finger touched a small bundle of scar tissue near one of my shoulder blades and trailed along a thin scar. I stayed silent as he traced the other one, then a small one near my tailbone. "Don't tell me then. I would like to know however, if you ever feel like talking."
When I didn't supply any information he seemed to shrug and continue. He wiped off the blood with a cloth and began to examine the open lacerations on my back. "Are you okay with stitching?"
"Just do it." I said. I knew many of the wounds needed stitches. It would not bother me. I felt him shift and then a prick as the needle entered my skin. He worked in silence, stitching up more wounds than I thought I had. I could feel the needle move in an out, and the surgical thread as it pulled my wounds closed. When he finished, I felt him spread a thick cream onto the wounds.
He moved around to my front, needle in hand. Luckily only a few of the lacerations there needed stitching. Bandages were put aside until later and Trowa moved to the graze on my thigh. That one needed stitching as well, and I could tell that my almost nudity made him nervous. It wasn't until I tried to grab the needle to do it myself that he began working. I smirked.
"I take it you can take care of the bruises and small cuts?" He asked as he tied off the knot, creamed, then bandaged the wound.
"Hai." He started to stand, but must have caught sight of my swollen leg.
"Broken?" He asked. I nodded. "Does it need to be set?" I could hear the nervousness creeping into his voice. He must not have been trained to set his own broken bones, or anyone's for that matter. Instead of answering I bent over and began to poke and squeeze up and down my leg, double checking for anything more than the hairline fractures I had found before.
"Just cracked. A bandage will be fine." I sat back and let him wrap the ankle tightly. By the time he was finished bandaging the rest of the wounds and picking up, I had unwillingly taken the painkillers provided and I felt my body begin to become lethargic. I must have pushed myself too hard again, for the drugs to take affect this quickly.
"Are you done in there?" Quatre asked from the other side of the closed door. I slid myself under the covers, not bothering with clothes, and Trowa let him in. I watched the small blond as he brought a tray of food in. "You should eat now while it's warm."
"Iie." I allowed my body to fall back onto the bed. I still kept my eyes trained on them, ready for any quick movement.
"But it'll get cold…."
"Should have waited to make it then." I said crossly; the drugs, as usual, were beginning to make me anxious and more irritable than usual. I just wanted them to leave, yet I didn't really want to hurt the blonde's feelings. Quatre lowered his gaze sadly and I gave an uncharacteristic sigh. "Gomen…." Damn these drugs.
"What?"
"He apologized." Trowa explained. Quatre gave a small 'oh' and made his way over to me. I lowered the arm that I had brought up to shield my face as he came to a stop beside me.
"It's okay. You're hurt and tired. If you want, I can bring this down and when you're hungry I'll reheat it." The kindness in his eyes made me feel ill and I turned away. I gave a small nod and he retreated. I heard the door close and rolled onto my side.
When I opened my eyes again I blinked in surprise when I saw that he had left a little plate with bread, and a glass of milk.
TBC