Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Wing ❯ Broken Wing - Chapter Fourteen ( Chapter 14 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Authors Note: Hi all and welcome to chapter fourteen of Broken Wing



Authors Note: Hi all and welcome to chapter fourteen of Broken Wing! My, I can hardly believe that I've actually gotten this far! It's all thank to you guys, but I think I'll save the rest of this for when I actually finish it! ::winks:: Well… it seems as if a few of you… heh… are a little upset about my whole killing of Trowa in the last chapter. Good, I'm glad! If you guys are getting emotionally involved, it means I'm doing my job! And a very evil job it is at that! Oh, and I little note: from colored drawings by Takeuchi-sama, I have surmised that Usagi's blonde hair turns silver not only when she turns into Princess Serenity, but also when she transforms into Sailormoon. Well, it's thundering and lightening here, so I'm gonna shut up now! And the ever present thankies: Marika Webster, Trenchcoat Man (who is now an author at ff.net!! YAY!!), VeeBees, scores of other names I can't list right here, and, of course, MY FAITHFUL READERS!!!

Disclaimer: I give up! I CAN'T win with you people!!! I don't own any of it! Well except for… hey wait, that's in an upcoming chapter! You're trying to trick me!!!


Broken Wing - Chapter Fourteen


Hiiro was beside Duo in a moment, kneeling over the already paling body of the boy they all knew as Trowa Barton. The burn on his chest was unmistakable; one of the enemy mobile suits had fired on him. From the looks of things, the suits had attacked Relena's car, causing it to crash into the tree. Trowa had remained conscious and exited, trying to protect Relena, as Hiiro had trusted him to do. But what was one boy with a gun against multiple mobile suits?
"Dammit!" Duo fell back from his crouch, crashing into the ground. He'd failed.
I should have listened to Usagi. She tried to warn us, but I wouldn't listen. Trowa is dead because of my doubt.
Vaguely Duo heard the faint shufflings of tired footsteps from the other side of the car. He heard Usagi's voice when she saw the unconscious Relena, and Quatre's shaking question about Trowa.
"Where is he?" Duo heard, "I can't feel him!"
"Over here." Hiiro stood, doing what Duo couldn't. He waved Usagi and Quatre over, showing them exactly where to find the fallen boy. They were not the only two to arrive; Noin and Wufei followed soon after.
"T-Trowa?" Quatre's shimmering blue eyes landed on the pale, lifeless form of the Heavyarms pilot. Noin and Usagi caught him on either side when his knees gave out. "Nooo . . ." the word sounded more like a moan, and Duo thought the boy looked close to passing out. Quatre sagged into the strength of the two girls' arms, uncaring that Usagi was just as weak as he. He couldn't seem to take his gaze from Trowa's body.
"I'm sorry, Quatre," Duo tried to stand, sobs blocking his throat, making it difficult to force the words out, "It's my fault, I should have listened to Usagi-"
"Usagi-san!" Quatre whirled on her suddenly, his slender fingers curling into her shirt, eyes wide and desperate, "Usagi-san, you can help him! I know you can!" For her part, Usagi looked on him with eyes that not only showed her sorrow, but were filled with an apprehension she'd not exhibited since she first arrived. "PLEASE!" Quatre's voice rose, shrieking his desperation to the skies.
"Quatre-kun . . ." she began, but Hiiro stepped forward and place a hand on the boy's shoulder, interrupting her.
"He's dead," the stoic one stated, "There's nothing anyone can do. We should go back to Sanch Palace now, and take-"
"SHUT UP!" Quatre released Usagi's shirt long enough to push Hiiro away, face flushed with suffering and sudden rage. They all took a step back from him, and Hiiro's eyes were large with shock. The last remnants of the blonde's shout echoed into stillness, and not even the birds dared to continue their song afterwards. All was silence as Quatre's crazed gaze settled on the each in turn, daring anyone to speak again. At last, it was Usagi that took the challenge.
"Quatre-kun is right. I can heal him."
"Usagi-san!" Noin hissed from Quatre's other side. The golden-haired girl didn't bother to even glance in the woman's direction. Instead she merely disentangled herself from the boy's grip and left him to the gentle care of the lieutenant. She walked to the middle of the ring created by the pilots all standing around. Duo watched her approach Trowa's body. Then, she did a very strange thing.
"Setsuna-san," she spoke into the air, "I know you're watching this. I need you to come here."
Instantly, it was as she commanded. One moment Usagi was alone in the center of the circle, the next moment Setsuna was standing beside her. The maroon-eyed one peered at Usagi with a cautious gaze, knowing as much as Duo did that this was a very different situation than any faced before.
"It's time," Usagi said before Setsuna could ask what she wanted, "I need the Crystal."
"No, I can't-"
"Give it to me, Setsuna-san."
The Guardian backed away from the girl, shaking her head slowly.
"I'm sorry, Usagi-chan, but I can't. I can't risk-"
"SAILORPLUTO!"
Setsuna winced, as did Duo. Hearing Usagi shout in that strong, commanding voice was just as unnerving as hearing Quatre scream at Hiiro.
"Sailorpluto, I command that you return what is mine to me this INSANT!"
"Usagi-chan . . . Serenity-sama," Setsuna changed names in a tremulous inflection, and Duo could see her fight to remain standing, as though every pore in her body were trying to force her into a bow, "I can't."
Without another word, Usagi raised her right hand into the air, not as if waiting for something to be placed there, but more like she was beckoning someone forward. No one spoke for the next few moments; all were frightened into wordlessness by the hard, unmerciful gleam in the girl's eyes. Then, when Duo thought that this was about to become silly, something appeared in Usagi's outstretched hand.
It looked to be no more than a simple brooch, heart-shaped, with a golden moon on the inside and matching golden wings on either side. There was something, however, something exuding from that modest piece of jewelry that made all gasp in awe.
"Usagi-chan, iie!" Setsuna moved to reach for the brooch, only to be driven backwards by a bright flash of white light.
Usagi stared at the beaten Guardian through serene eyes, as if the state of her friend were merely another circumstance that couldn't be helped. With a sad sort of sigh she raised the magnificent brooch over her head and opened her mouth.
"Moon Crisis- Make UP!"
Duo felt his own eyes widen to an impossible size. It only made sense; what he was seeing was impossible.
The light wasn't white this time, it was golden. He thought, for the slightest of moments, he saw a thousand rainbow colored butterflies flutter around Usagi's outstretched arms, but they were gone in the next moment if they had existed at all. The golden light expanded and became so radiant Duo's eyes couldn't endure to gaze on it any longer and he was forced to look away. Still squinting, he could see that the others were having the same problem. None of them were looking at Usagi, instead covering their eyes with their hands or bowing their heads. The light was so brilliant, so filled with beauty and benevolence, that once it finally receded, Duo's mind begged for it to return.
He blinked, then turned his gaze back to Usagi.
It wasn't Usagi standing there anymore. It was some silver-haired, crystal-eyed celestial being. She was dressed in a sailor suit like Setsuna, but hers was different, having pink and yellow stripes on a white skirt, and a shimmering, transparent bow that fell to her knees. The brooch perched in the middle of the red bow on her suit, and encircling her forehead was a golden tiara, a crescent moon sigil glowing from between her eyebrows.
"Usagi-san?" Duo murmured as the angelic vision kneeled over Trowa's body, ignoring his tentative inquiry.
"Super Sailormoon," Setsuna corrected him in a quiet voice, raising herself slowly from the ground, where she'd watched the transformation.
The question 'What's a Super Sailormoon?' drifted to the end of Duo's tongue, but he squelched it at the moment. Instead he watched the girl he knew as Usagi-san, and saw her brooch slowly flip open, as if controlled by an invisible hand. Inside glittered a crystal that seemed to dance although it stayed in its place within the brooch. Super Sailormoon ran her hand lightly over Trowa's face, then down to the burn on his chest. Duo barely heard her next words, and only did because he was so close.
"Moon Healing Escalation."
The meaning of those strange words became clear in only a second, when the crystal began to glow with even more light than before. This was the white light, the purest illuminance any of them could ever hope to see. This was . . . this was . . .
The light of Heaven.
It flowed from the shining crystal, from Super Sailormoon, and infused itself into Trowa's body. Before Duo's eyes the burn healed itself, the skin then coloring from pale grey to normal, healthy pink in moments. Under the regenerative light of this strange gem and its owner, Trowa looked full of health and almost alive.
The boy's visible eye shot open and he pulled in a strained, racking breath. Everyone save Quatre and Setsuna shot away from Trowa, Hiiro stumbling over Noin in his haste to get away. Even Duo, who could see this as nothing less than a miracle, wanted to be far away.
"Oh God . . ." he heard the words fall from his lips before he knew he'd thought about uttering them, "Oh God!"
It's like Lazarus! She raised him from the dead!
He surprised himself by even remembering the name of Lazarus.
Duo watched Super Sailormoon take Trowa by the hand and smile, then help the tall boy stand up on his own two, alive feet. His green eye never left her blue gaze, as though he were mesmerized, held in her orbs like fish in a glass tank. Ever so slowly his free hand rose to his chest, feeling the burnt hole in his shirt and the whole, healthy skin beneath. Fear entered his eyes.
"Trowa!" Quatre struggled himself from Noin's distracted grasp and pitched forward, tripping over his own feet and falling straight into Trowa, who released Super Sailormoon's hand just in time to catch the frantic blonde.
All watched in throat-constricted silence as Quatre sobbed into Trowa's healed chest, fingers gripping the boy's arms tightly, as if he were afraid they would slip away. Trowa said nothing, looking down at the smaller one in much the same way as he had that first day Setsuna brought him to Earth. Then that mystified expression melted into something softer, and he wrested his arms from Quatre's hold, sliding them gently around his waist instead. The blonde's tearful eyes widened a bit as Trowa lowered his lips to Quatre's ear, and whispered something that no one else heard, or had the right to hear. The sobbing cry of joy that escaped the pale boy's throat was enough to let them know that happiness was the proper emotion to feel.
"It's a miracle," Duo murmured to no one but himself, "A miracle . . . an honest to God miracle."


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


Through the spotless lace curtains draping the Sanch Palace windows, Mizuno Ami watched the Gundams and Sanch mobile suits approach. The one time soldier and Queen of Mercury passed her blue-black gaze over each of them, wondering in which one Usagi was. Surely it was Deathscythe; Duo would have offered to bring her back to Sanch. Or perhaps she rode with Noin, as she had on the way out. Ami backed away from the window and placed her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat. The only sound was the stern clicking of her heels against the hard floor. Presently she found herself on the catwalk overlooking the mobile suit hanger.
To her surprise, it was not Deathscythe that Usagi exited, but Altron. Nor was she plain Usagi, but dressed in the sailor fuku of Super Sailormoon. Ami heard her gasp echo in the silence of the hanger before she realized she'd made such a sound. All eyes turned upwards to her, among them a soft and familiar pair of swirling blue.
"Ami-chan."
"Super Sailormoon." Ami breathed with a respectful bow of her head. The surprised and suspicious looks of the Gundams pilots did not escape her, but they were of no importance to the knowledge that she now possessed, "You have the Silver Crystal, then?"
"Hai."
It's time then . . . it has to be. But . . . I can't. No matter how much Setsuna-san says it must happen, I can't do it.
"Are there any injuries?" she asked, falling into the accustomed role of everyone's doctor, surveying each person for evidence of cuts or bruises. But Sailormoon merely smiled serenely up at her and replied:
"Not anymore."
Ami sighed, seeing Hiiro help Relena down from the cockpit of Wing Zero, and Noin following Paegan out from her white Taurus suit. "I see." Stiffly the short-haired woman traveled the metal steps down to the hanger floor, serious eyes trained on the young version of her Queen. "You can't keep doing that, Usagi-chan. You can't waste your energy; you know how the Silver Crystal affects you."
Sailormoon gave a smile and a calm chuckle, making Ami blink in surprise.
"My-" the golden-haired one stopped, glancing at the pilots, before starting again, "The Queen never told you? After our battle with Sailorgalaxia, my control over the Crystal got stronger. It doesn't drain me to use it anymore."
"I thought . . ." Ami had been about to say that she thought Serenity's control over the Crystal had come with her ascension to the throne of Crystal Tokyo. But she thought better of it when she saw Setsuna pop into existence over Sailormoon's shoulder.
"Ami-chan," the Guardian spoke, causing all to spin and look at her. She stood there, hand closed about her ever present Time staff, and the stern expression on her face revealed to Ami that something had happened while everyone was away, something that Sailorpluto did not appreciate at all. "It's time."
"No! I won't do this, Setsuna-san. I can't. It's too much for her. It was too much then, and it's too much now." Blue-black stared down maroon for a second time, and neither seemed ready to back down. Ami saw Setsuna's hand clench tighter about the Time staff, and she pulled her hands from her pockets, prepared to henshin should it be necessary. She raised her hand higher in the air and opened her mouth, primed to shout the words.
"Stop it!"
Both Senshi, along with five pilots and two civilians who were growing more confused by the moment, turned to Super Sailormoon. She frowned at her two soldiers, who both colored a bit in shame to realize that they had been about to attack each other, something no Senshi was ever supposed to do.
"It's time for what?" Sailormoon asked, blue eyes flickering between the two. No one spoke as she waited for one of them to answer, and Ami was determined that she would not be the one.
"It's time for me to tell you something that even you don't know, Usagi-chan," Setsuna answered, pulling herself into a stern, straight stance, trying to assert her position as the eldest and wisest person in the room. "And for Ami-chan to show you-"
"I've told you I won't do it!"
"Calm down," Sailormoon put out a hand to quell the doctor's ire, then turned to face Setsuna. "You tell us this information first, and then I will decide whether I want to see whatever it is you want Ami-chan to show me."
"Agreed. We should move to a more comfortable meeting place, and you should change." Setsuna gave Sailormoon an arched brow, looking over the girl's sailor fuku with a disapproving eye. Ami was certain that it had not been under the Guardian's advisement that Usagi had henshined.
"Alright. We'll meet in the common room in fifteen minutes." Sailormoon smiled towards Quatre and Trowa, the later of which had arrived in the care and protective arms of the former. Ami saw immediately the change in the two; it was the same change that had occurred in Usagi and Mamoru after the battle with Metallia, when they'd confessed their love for each other. She smiled. At least there was some good coming of all these events.
The group dispersed to cultivate the fifteen free minutes until they would hear what Setsuna had to say. Ami feared what would happen to them afterwards, if Usagi refused to listen to her.


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


Hiiro headed straight for the common room, having no desire to wait for the answers that he and his fellow pilots had been seeking since the beginning of this bizarre adventure. His mind still raced with the fresh image of Trowa, dead for at least twenty minutes, opening his eyes and taking that first, gasping breath. How many impossible things had happened since Setsuna first interfered with their lives? Too many. Hiiro liked things nice and explainable. This certainly did not fit that description.
At the door to the common room he glanced up to see Duo already there, leaning against the wall, eyes resting on the floor thoughtfully. The boy was pale, obviously shaken up by what he'd witnessed. Hiiro didn't blame him. Who wouldn't be unsettled by such an experience?
"You okay?" he asked, not really knowing why. He'd never cared if Duo, or any of the other pilots for that matter, were healthy or not before.
Duo flicked his indigo eyes towards Hiiro briefly, before returning them to the marble plain beneath his feet.
"Yeah. I'm okay. I just . . . don't know what to believe any more."
That comment sounded suspiciously like one rooted in Duo's past, something that Hiiro had no urge to know anything about. So he merely gave a curt nod and turned, entering the room silently. He took up a seat in a leather chair near the couch and fixed his gaze to the far wall, waiting.
The wonderful thing about being the Perfect Soldier is that thought is merely something that floats around with no real purpose except when it helps the mission. Therefore, Hiiro was able to sit in the exact same position for the entire fifteen minutes without a single thought in his head to make him edgy about how much time had passed. He did not rouse himself from the trance until his subconscious mind, trained to notice these things, told him that all of the necessary people were present and accounted for. He blinked and looked to Setsuna just in time to hear her first words.
"I've been keeping secrets from you all, and I will continue to keep secrets after this day. What I am going to say is mostly for Usagi-chan, and not for you, but you will be involved in the events that are going to occur, so I am allowing you to listen."
Hiiro scowled.
"Your scientists, who built your Gundams and supposedly designed the first mobile suit over twenty years ago, were only following the designs of someone else."
"What?!?" Duo's outburst was becoming so common in these discussions that no one paid any attention to him.
"The first mobile suit was actually built three-thousand years ago, for the use of a powerful Queen in a war everyone thought was impossible to win otherwise." Setsuna gave a meaningful glance to Usagi, who was once more clothed in the tank top and pants she first donned for training. The golden one nodded in silent understanding, and the Guardian continued, "This Queen had a tool that was extremely powerful, but there was no way to focus this power in such a way as to be effective in this war. So she had her leading scientist design and build such a weapon for her, one that would act as a focus for the energy of her tool."
"I'm sorry, Setsuna," Quatre said from his position beside Trowa on the couch, "but what you're saying is simply impossible. The people three-thousand years ago simply didn't have the technology to build a mobile suit."
"It's true," Ami said quietly, hard eyes looking up and into Setsuna's own gaze, as if somehow the Guardian was at fault, "The people of that time period invented the technology needed to build not just a mobile suit, but a Gundam. I know this for a fact because the scientist who built it was . . . was my ancestor."
Hiiro noticed the pause in Ami's answer, and wondered what it could mean. It was another piece in the puzzle of how Usagi knew this woman, and just like the others, this piece had odd edges that just didn't seem to fit.
"The Queen used the Gundam," Setsuna resumed, "called Alpha, for only one battle in her war. After that one time, she ordered the suit to be hidden away and the plans destroyed, and no one knows exactly why." Another glance to Usagi. "But the plans weren't destroyed, were they Ami-chan?"
"No." Hiiro watched Ami bite her bottom lip in angry guilt, "No they weren't. My . . . ancestor . . . was too proud of her work. She thought it was her best achievement ever, and instead of destroying the plans she hid them away. She thought it would be a terrible thing if such a possible protection for Earth was destroyed forever."
"How do you know all of this?" Hiiro asked, feeling that there was something the woman wasn't telling them, some fragment of information she was keeping from them, like Setsuna.
"Her journals," Ami replied a little too slowly, after what appeared to be fervent thought, "She wrote it all down in her private journals."
"Did she happen to write down the location of the hidden Gundam?" Wufei leaned forward, eyes boring into the woman. Obviously he felt the same distrust of her that Hiiro did.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Ami spat back, anger blazing in her eyes. Her eyes . . . there was something in them that reminded Hiiro of Setsuna. Some . . . age.
"Is that what you want Ami-chan to show me?" Usagi asked quietly, looking up at Setsuna as a child unsure of itself would look at a parent. The Guardian gazed downward with a shaky attempt at a comforting smile and nodded.
"And I won't! That thing is-"
"It could help us defeat OZ!" Duo leaped from his seat, braid swishing behind him as he moved about, pacing in a frantic sort of way. Hiiro glanced from him to Ami, who was shaking her head in wide-eyed horror. But . . . the idea had merit. If such a suit did exist, another Gundam would certainly be welcomed help to their cause.
"But who would pilot it?" Quatre asked in a timid, unconvinced tone.
"I would."
Usagi sat straight under the shocked glances of the five pilots. Oddly enough, Hiiro noticed, neither Setsuna nor Ami seemed very surprised by that statement. The Guardian merely nodded, and Ami sank back in her chair with a shattered gaze.
"Usagi-san," began Trowa, who had been silent until now, "you've done more than enough for us, and you've already taken enough from OZ. There's no reason for you to fight."
"There is," she replied, "I have to."
"Usagi-chan is right. No one else can pilot that suit." Setsuna's voice was low, matter-of-fact, but a strange undercurrent of remorse ran beneath her words. She advocated Usagi as the sixth pilot, but there was at least some part of her that did not want it. Hiiro's eyes narrowed as he wondered why the woman would support Usagi in this, if it was not what the Guardian wanted.
"Show it to me," Usagi said as she stood, the familiar glint of determination in her eyes. They all knew that Ami didn't want her near it, but she was doubtless curious. She wanted to see it, and nothing would stand in her way. If it did, he, she or it would most likely be trampled.
"Alright," Ami sighed, defeated without really giving an argument. Apparently she knew this tenacity well, and didn't even attempt to try and dissuade Usagi. She pushed herself up from the chair by its arms and crossed the room, leading them all out into the hallway. Hiiro thought he heard her mutter something that sounded like, "We will all regret this."


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


Through the corridors and around corners Ami lead them, the entire group moving through silence. The doctor briefly stopped at the hospital wing to check on Relena and Paegan, allowing Duo to gape at the sight of a complete hospital inside the Sanch Palace. Quatre thought he heard the braided one mutter something, but it was obviously not meant for prying ears.
"What's going on?" Relena asked them quietly, her eyes darting back and forth between Setsuna and Ami, both of who wore guilty expressions on their faces.
"Nothing, Your Highness," Ami replied, putting on the imperious tone that only a doctor can pull off properly, "Lie back down, you too Paegan!" She pushed the butler back down onto his bed, ignoring the annoying glance and sneer he gave her.
The next five minutes were spent trying to convince the princess that truly, nothing at all was going on, and no, no one was in danger, why on the Earthsphere would she think anything like that? Duo had no luck with this, because he had a hard time keeping a straight face. Quatre blushed each time he tried, for he felt extremely guilty for lying to Relena, and the girl jumped away each time Trowa tried to speak to her. They'd found out that she'd see him get hit and fall before she passed out in the car. She probably didn't mean to be so jumpy but . . . well, no one could really blame her.
Wufei only scowled and didn't even try to pacify the upset princess. Only when Hiiro stepped forward and told her in his low, emotionless voice that all would be fine did Relena finally nod and lie down.
"Like she couldn't have believed me!" Duo complained once they'd left the room, "Is there a more trustworthy face anywhere but mine?"
"Only one, Duo-kun," Usagi grinned as she walked up beside him and gestured to Quatre, "Right there!"
"U-Usagi-san!" Quatre blushed again, smiling a bit as he turned away. He heard Usagi giggling and knew that he had been purposefully trying to embarrass him. It wasn't a surprise; most people liked to embarrass him because they said he was so cute when he blushed.
"She's telling the truth, though," came Trowa's hushed voice at his ear, "You are the most trustworthy of us all."
That would have made Quatre turn a brighter shade of red, had it not been such a serious and heavy statement. It had the sound of guilt hanging behind it. He dared a glance at the tall boy beside him and saw the green eye trained on the ground. Without a second thought Quatre reached over and took Trowa's hand in his, giving it a slight squeeze. Trowa didn't look at him, but the slightest of smiles crept over his face as he returned the pressure gently.
"Here we are."
They all stopped their privates conversations to look up when Ami spoke.
The doctor stood before a great, iron doorway. Quatre looked behind them to see where they were, angry with himself for being so distracted he hadn't paid any attention to what direction they were headed in. But all he saw was the long, dark stretched of a hallway.
"You still have a chance to turn back," Ami offered with a voice that cracked and peeled away, revealing her panic, "I can take you all back now without-"
"Show me."
With a shaking sigh that sounded suspiciously close to a sob, Ami pressed a sequence of buttons on the keypad, leaving her index finger pressing the last for a bit longer than usual. She flinched before taking it away and Quatre noticed the small bead of blood that welled up there. DNA testing . . . to confirm her identity.
"Welcome, Queen Mercury," stated a cold, mechanical voice. Then the iron doors slid open with a great, ominous hum of electrical power. Darkness greeted them from inside, and even Ami, who knew what awaited them through that darkness, paused before taking a step forward. Behind her the rest of them filed into the room, huddled together in a large group, none of them feeling quite secure about this dark and rather spooky place.
Quatre heard Ami sigh; then there was a click and the lights came flooding into existence.
He had been looking to his side, so he saw Duo's reaction before he actually saw the suit itself. The braided one's mouth dropped open, his eyes getting big and round and very bright. Quatre glanced between the rest of the pilots and saw that even Wufei and Hiiro were staring in unabashed awe. At last the blonde himself looked upwards.
By Allah . . .


End Chapter Fourteen.