Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Cult Characteristic ❯ Chapter 17 ( Chapter 17 )

SEVENTEEN

Fiona jumped off the truck and ran for the machines, the Sweeper crew ignoring her as they set up a series of fluorescent lights to tear away the darkness. One little girl was of no significance to them. She followed the medical crew, crawling through the debris to the space in the center. She couldn't see Wufei, but Quatre was there, banging on a melted metal sphere as if his life depended on it. Or someone he cared for.

A team of men appeared at Quatre's side and they began talking together in hushed tones. Fiona could have listened to what they were saying, but she had no desire to. They did not interest her. She crawled to the other cockpit; the one that was open.

There were voices coming from within and the Sweeper's doctors were climbing all over the wreckage to get nearer. There was more hushed whispering, quietly spoken questions and equally calm answers shared. Fiona did not think it was good. There were a lot of words being passed around that she didn't understand. That was never a good sign.

"Shinigami?" She almost didn't recognize her own voice. The voice of a child, severely shaken, scared, alone and left on the streets…She sounded broken.

Wufei's head appeared at the edge of the wreckage.

"Fiona? What are you doing here!" He did not sound mad. Fiona didn't want him to be mad at her. Still, he did not look pleased, and there was stuff on his skin. Red stuff. Fiona knew there was only one thing it could be. She ran at Wufei, slipping under the arm of one of the doctors. Wufei only just caught her before she leapt right on top of the one person she couldn't bare to harm.

"Shinigami?" She wailed at the sight before her. Duo, covered in pieces of shirts and trousers, bleeding sluggishly and blinking in and out of consciousness, Trowa at his side trying to keep him awake, Wufei holding his hand, whispering reassurances and promises no one could keep. Fiona felt tears in her eyes. You should never make promises you can't keep.

"Firefly…" Cobalt eyes flickered open and were lucid for the barest moment before they slid shut once more. But it was enough. Fiona knew everything would be alright. Satisfied, she kissed Wufei on the cheek before slipping back under the doctor's arm and leaping off the Gundam's remains. She would only be in the way. Instead, she turned to the house, or what was left of it.

Smoking ruins where the killers had lived. Always Fiona had been taught to stay away from this haven of deception. To be caught here was to die, all knew. There was no leaving once one entered the doors of Devourjac manor.

And yet, there spread out across the lawn were hundreds of people just like herself. Children and adults alike, all dressed in that familiar black uniform, clinging to one another as they found their feet and began wandering off into the darkness. They were alive, and free, and Howard would fix their colony…Yet Fiona was sad, for none of them would ever know why they were free, why they would never again have to fear Devourjac Manor. They would never know the person who had saved them, because if they knew, if anyone knew…Shinigami would never be free again. They would lock him up, throw away the key.

Strong arms came around her waist and hoisted her onto a lithe waist. A little surprised, Fiona turned to look at Noin. She found a smile somewhere deep and forced it out. Little girls were supposed to smile.

"You don't have to smile," Noin said softly, not looking at Fiona but at the manor beyond.

"But I want to."

Now Noin looked at her, and maybe she saw something more than a little girl, maybe she didn't, but she put Fiona down and let her walk on her own two feet back to the transport. She saw sparks flying off the sealed cockpit, Mr. Peacecraft holding the cutting iron, face dark and haunted as they struggled to break in.

"Do you think he's alive?" Fiona asked quietly, eyes glued to those little sparks; those little fireflies spluttering and dying. Always on the brink.

"Yes." But Fiona heard the slight hesitation in her voice and a shiver ran down her spine. Never hesitate. Hesitation gets you killed.

"He's alive," Fiona said steadfastly, without hesitation. She would believe it until she was proved wrong. Believe it until the sparks went out and were not relit.

"What makes you so sure?" Noin asked, looking a little confused and uncomfortable as she asked for clarification from a child.

Fiona just smiled and pointed at the little sparks, some inner finger pointing at herself.

"Firefly."

*

Wufei glared at the glass, wishing it away, wishing it all away. It was not supposed to be this way, though he was not sure how it was meant to be. Better. That was all he knew. It was meant to be better. He had tried to make it better, to make sure they didn't repeat their mistakes, but he had not known what they were up against. He had not realized how deep the scars ran, how far the lengths were a person would go to attain their dark desires.

Beyond the glass lay two bodies on two identical beds, so similar yet so different. They were still, so perfectly still he could not even see the rise and fall of their chests. The only sign of life was the beep of the heart monitors, beating in perfect time with one another, muted by the thick glass that kept his from their side. It wasn't meant to be this way.

A hand came down on his shoulder and he looked wearily into Sally's drawn face. She had worked so hard, done so much for them. He could ask nothing more, and he didn't. They simply stood there in comfortable, knowing silence and watched, listened, waited. Wufei knew they would be waiting a very long time.

"He'll wake up soon…" Sally finally broke the silence, words softly spoken, barely there at all, more to herself than anyone else. Still, Wufei felt compelled to reply.

"Keep him under. Don't let him come up for air."

"Wufei!" Sally cried out, startled, eyes wide as she took in the determined set of his jaw. Wufei didn't blame her; she didn't understand, not completely. She wasn't thinking. She was a doctor not a gundam pilot.

"Keep him under until Heero wakes up. Otherwise, when he wakes there will be no air."

Sally did not object. She studied him carefully, then studied the figures on the beds carefully. Then she nodded.

"Alright." And that was all that needed to be said, but she went one step further, and that was why he loved her, more than anything else. "You can go see them, if you like…"

See them, and touch them, and hear them breathe, and know they were alive. He hugged her to him, kissing her deeply to hide the tears in his eyes before he slipped silently through the door and into the world on the other side of the glass, so similar to the hallway without, yet so different.

Duo's bed was closer, the activity of his brain wild and erratic, near waking. Wufei brushed his hand over the messy bangs, fingers sliding over one cheek as he leant over and pressed his lips against the flesh of a pale hand. The brainwaves settled a little, into the pattern of deep sleep once more and Wufei let a smile tug at his lips as he moved to the second bed.

"You did it again Yuy…you're still here. Come back to us soon…" He ran his hand down the still arm, eyes fixed on the brainwaves that refused to move. Stubborn, like the man within. But he would come back, Wufei knew…

Wufei woke several hours later to the touch of a hand on his shoulder. He looked blearily up at Quatre, noticed the stern mission face he had on and sat straight, waiting.

"Trowa's waiting in the carpark. I'll take over here."

Wufei didn't ask questions, didn't argue. He simply stood and left Quatre with the dubious task of calling Heero back to the land of the living. The carpark was calling.

Trowa was waiting and only the way his fingers pressed against the wheel revealed his impatience. Something was going on. Wufei waited as quietly a he could as Trowa started up the car and they left the hospital, heading south, toward the centre of the colony.

"What's going on?" He kept his eyes on the road ahead, amazed how quickly the colonists had come together to get their world functional once more. The main roads were clear, power was online in all sections of the grid.

"Rosemary Devourjac broke out of confinement. Relena isn't talking. She's demanding to take Heero back to Earth. Noin is already headed out to the manor. Milliardo is on his way back to Earth." Trowa looked pointedly at Wufei, making sure he had his undivided attention. "Preventers headquarters is under attack."

"Under…WHAT?" Wufei bellowed, trying to rap his head around everything he had been told. He was not surprised Rose had made a run for it; she was a resourceful woman. But attacking headquarters? Surely that was suicide! Although, with the seven best agents off planet, maybe not so. Especially if you had nothing to lose. It seemed the Devourjac's were going all out.

"So what are we doing?"

"Finding Rose Devourjac," Trowa replied too innocently. "So we can use her for ransom."