Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chupacabras Synchronicity ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two.

Trowa scratched at his hand for the seventh time in three minutes. He knew Quatre was worried about him but there was nothing he could say. He was sure the school nurse had got all the poison out. He no longer felt weak. He knew his strength was back after carrying Duo's suitcase all the way up to their dorm. It just itched!

Trowa wanted to remove the bandage, to tear off the fine gauze and scratch the livid, purple mark until it bled. Anything to get rid of that insane itch. He only stopped himself because he knew it would make Quatre worry even more.

What he couldn't tell Quatre was what it had felt like when that…thing…but him. As if it was trying to suck out everything he was. Blood, bone, soul…nothing seemed to difficult. If it had finished the job Trowa felt only his skin would be left. For some reason the thing hated skin.

"Duo's taking his time," Quatre said softly from where he had sat down on his bed, legs folded under him as if in mediation while he was anything but. Typical of the Arabian.

"Even Duo needs time to learn," Trowa responded mechanically, though inside he too was worried. It had taken Duo only an hour to find out everything they had needed to know about the Psionicists. He had been in that library for fourteen already. How much longer could it take? This was, after all, Duo the super brain. Sure his mind wandered, but when he wanted to know something he damn well went for it.

There was a shuffling outside their door, followed by much cursing and a loud knock. Trowa raised his brows at the noise and waited as Quatre opened the door to let them in.

Wufei came storming in, still cursing, Treize amused but a little worried at his heels.

"What happened?" Quatre asked, pain in his eyes. Trowa knew he was upset he hadn't sensed Wufei's pain. Since the Psionic saga he had only been able to sense emotion, not pain. He would have known Wufei was angry, but not why.

"Apparently we have one of your little friends near our window also," Treize said smoothly, rubbing the back of Wufei's neck. To Trowa's surprise the Chinaman actually calmed down and fell into one of the desk chairs. His hand was bleeding, the thick green liquid around the wound too familiar for Trowa's taste. Monster slag, Trowa had nicknamed it.

"It's poisonous, you need to clean it," Trowa said softly, going to the cupboard and dragging out the supplies he had stolen from the nurse when he had been bitten. He passed Treize the materials he needed to clean the wound and the antidote to the poison. He tossed the bandage to Quatre, knowing he would want to dress it to make up for not sensing Wufei's pain.

The door opened and a very tired looking Duo stumbled in, guided by Heero.

"Any luck?" Trowa asked quickly, eager to know what they had found.

Heero shook his head and led Duo to a bed. The braided boy lay down and promptly fell asleep.

"Duo wants to check out the city library, but we can't do that until the weekend. School starts tomorrow." Heero answered Trowa's questioning look. "What happened to your hand?"

"Bitten," Wufei snarled. Trowa wondered if he was angry because something had dared to bite him, because he had let it bite him, or because it hurt and he didn't want people knowing he couldn't handle the pain. Trowa wondered what he would do when it started itching.

"Why on the hand?" Quatre suddenly asked, the observation seemingly coming from nowhere, but it was a good point. Trowa looked at his own hand. Why the hand? No idea.

Wufei was looking at Quatre as if he had grown another head, but Treize was nodding, contemplating the question.

"We utilise our gifts through our palms," Treize observed. "Could it have something to do with the fact we are Psionicists?"

His question met a wall of shocked silence. Trowa could not believe his ears. Treize Kushrenada was not only taking them seriously, but he was trying to help them. More than that, he actually had a really good idea.

Trowa rested against the side of Quatre's desk, looking down at the chair Quatre was sitting in, a brow raised questionably. Quatre shrugged in reply, flicking his wrist in a familiar way. Trowa loved talking silently to Quatre. They agreed it was worth checking out, and Trowa felt the familiar touch of Quatre's mind as the blonde came up with a workable plan.

"We should try to catch it."

Everyone looked at Quatre. Trowa couldn't believe it. He had known Quatre had a plan, but this was madness! They would all be poisoned and might not make it back to the infirmary to get patched up before the poison spread too far. Yet Wufei had a predatory gleam in his eye Trowa recognised as revenge, and Heero looked willing. That had Trowa stumped. Heero would usually be far from willing to put Duo in danger.

That was when Trowa realised Duo wouldn't be coming.

"Duo would be useful Heero," Trowa said softly, trying to change the other boy's mind.

"Duo can't even sense the thing out. He has no frequency and can't touch this one. He would be of no use to us. Besides, he's asleep."

Trowa grunted in response. It didn't surprise him. Heero would have come up with any excuse if it meant keeping Duo out of harm's way whether Duo liked it or not. Besides, who could argue with the fact Duo was asleep?

In silence they agreed to the plan and not wanting to wait until tomorrow they headed out, leaving Duo asleep on Trowa's bed. Alone. Trowa didn't like that. Even during their time against the Psionicists they hadn't left each other alone. Alone made you a target. No, Trowa didn't like alone at all.

Still, it wasn't his problem. He locked the door and hurried to catch up with the others, who were already at the stairs.

It was a quick and easy walk to the gardens. The sun was down, but it was not past curfew. There were still a few stragglers hanging around, including two very familiar looking forms. Trowa and smiled as Iria hurried up to them, Sally Po at her side.

"Sally's just showing me around the grounds!" Iria said happily, cheeks flushed in the cool night air. Trowa thought she was as beautiful as Quatre, and as kind.

"Is that all?" Heero asked Sally, a strange light to his eyes.

"Something is wrong in the gardens. I wanted to have a look," Sally replied defensively. She knew Heero had a soft spot for her after she helped him Duo, but that didn't make her his friend. A fact of which she was very much aware.

"Sally is Geokinetic," Quatre whispered in explanation to Iria and his sister squealed in delight. She had had no idea her new friend was Psionic. It only made her appeal all the more. Trowa thought Iria had a crush and barely hid his smile.

"So what's wrong then?" Iria suddenly asked, putting two and two together.

"We're hunting," Wufei said viciously and Iria took a step back from the gleam in the young man's eyes. She could tell the man was dangerous, even if he hadn't been carrying those damned swords. Trowa wondered where Wufei had stashed them that they were in his hands now. He assumed Treize had been carrying them. It was a sign of the trust Wufei had in the older boy that he would allow Treize to even touch his weapons.

"Hunting what exactly?" Sally asked, curious to know if they knew anything she didn't.

"No idea," Quatre said happily. "Something that bites and has a fetish for hands."

Everyone shook their heads at the cheerful tone. Quatre could be serious when he needed to be, but serious was not unhappy. Quatre was an expert at happy. That was why Trowa loved him.

"But…" Iria looked around the group. "Milliard is in the dorm…"

Quatre snorted and burst out laughing. Trowa felt a smile spread on his face and saw a similar look on Wufei. Heero, to everyone's amazement, was laughing heartily. How Iria always got that boy to laugh was beyond Trowa's comprehension.

"Sally?" Heero asked, motioning to the hedge with an elegant flick of his wrist. Sally bowed her head in response and held her arms out, palms down, fingers slightly clawed. Trowa felt the pull of electric forces and the ground shuddered.

Trowa hadn't realised he was holding his breath until his brain decided nothing was going to happen. The hedge didn't move, there was no flickering vision of something, no sound. Nothing to indicate anything had ever been in the bush.

Then Trowa heard a scream. Muffled and carried only to him through the electrical currents in the air itself, Trowa tuned into it immediately and blanched, grabbing Quatre's sleeve as he doubled over at the sound. It couldn't be human! Nothing could make such a sound…

Then it was followed by another scream, only this was familiar, too known to Trowa's senses. The two mingled, fought, tumbled…Trowa clutched his head in pain, trying to tune out but too fascinated, too absorbed in what was happening.

`Trowa, come back!' Quatre's voice, breaking through the distorted noise, lulling him into a semblance of peace, and back to reality.

Trowa looked straight at Heero, fear clear in his eyes. Heero didn't ask, he just ran. The others watched him go in confusion until Quatre's eyes went wide and he dropped Trowa's arm in surprise.

"Duo!"

End Chapter Two