Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dead Ground ❯ Communications out ( Chapter 2 )

As the morning sun shone through the window, Duo moaned and covered his face with the pillow. He realized his mistake a second too late as dust from the old pillow puffed out into the air and into his face. Coughing and sneezing he hurled the pillow across the room, sending yet another puff of dust into the air. The pillow hit the dresser and landed on the floor. Now fully awake, the braided boy stood up and dusted off his face and body. Surveying the small room, he located the offending dust magnet and threw it back on the bed.

 

All four rooms were almost exactly the same. Each had a small closet, twin bed, dresser and a large mirror that was mounted above the dresser. Also each room had a small window. The windows didn't open, and some of them were dirty enough to dim any light that was coming through them.

 

Glancing out the window, he spotted Wufei doing his morning 'ritual'. Every morning, the Chinese youth would get up at the break of dawn, practice his forms, then meditate. Duo preferred to spend the morning drinking coffee and relaxing.

 

Mmm... coffee.

 

The thought of the rich brown nectar of life had Duo out of his room in seconds. His room was the closer of the two rooms to the stairs. Not glancing at Heero's door, he grabbed a hold of the railing as he walked towards the stairs, looking down on the living room as he did so. He saw Trowa folding the blankets he had used the night before.

 

“Mornin' Trowa.” He said, descending the stairs.

 

Looking up briefly, the quiet boy said, “Good morning, Duo.” and continued his folding.

 

The American continued past the other boy and on into the kitchen. After he started a pot of coffee, he returned to the living room. “No Heero or Quatre yet?” Duo asked Trowa as he glanced worriedly at Quatre's room, then quickly up to the room next to his.

 

“No.”

 

Sighing, Duo's gaze returned to Quatre's room. The blond had stayed in his room the whole day, except for a quick trip to the restroom, in which he kept his gaze averted from the others and practically ran back to his room.

 

Both Duo and Trowa had tried to get Quatre to eat a little something with no success. They finally decided to leave him alone for the night and maybe he'd feel better in the morning. After all, Quatre was a pretty healthy guy, and a social butterfly. There was no way that small room was going to keep him for long.

 

Glancing over at a worried Trowa, Duo put on a cheerful face and said, “Don't worry Trowa, its probably just elevation sickness or something.” The smell of coffee began to creep from the kitchen. Realizing his addiction was ready, Duo quickly gave Trowa a reassuring look and returned to the kitchen for his coffee.

 

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By mid-morning all of the gundam pilots were up and about. Even Quatre had made and appearance, waving off the other boys' concerns, on his way from the only bathroom, before quickly retreating once again to his room.

 

An irritated Heero had announced over lunch that he was unable to pick up any signals on his laptop and there-for, no one would be contacting them that way. Trowa then informed the group that their handsets were not working properly here either, and so there would be no contact with anyone outside the forest.

 

Duo spent the rest of the day tinkering with the broken water heater, visions of a nice warm shower egging him on. Heero and Quatre spent the rest of the day in their own rooms. Heero was messing with his laptop, as usual. And, Quatre was laying on his bed, curled up in the fetal position. Trowa and Duo had checked on him a few times, but the blond insisted they not worry about him. Wufei spent the day meditating behind the cabin and Trowa spent it reading some of the materials he had gathered on his last mission.

 

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Not paying any attention when Duo finally gave up on a warm shower and decided to just 'hit the hay', or when Wufei came in from meditating and retired to his room, Trowa finally noticed that it was dark out. Not only was it dark, it was late. Really late. He reached in his bag and pulled out the pocket watch the ringmaster at the circus had given him, and checked the time.

 

Late.

 

Yes, it was late.

 

Sighing, Trowa returned the papers he had been reading to the folder he had taken them from, and slipped the folder in his bag. He took out the blankets he had used the night before and began to spread them on the couch. As he did so, one of the three light bulbs over head went out. He glanced up at the bulb.

 

Heero just changed those yesterday. Must have been a bad bulb...

 

Shrugging it off, Trowa finished laying the blankets down, turned off the lights and was instantly asleep.

 

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In one of the downstairs bedrooms, Quatre watched the light from the front room creep into his bedroom from under his door. He watched it for a long time. His gaze never straying.

 

A thought flitted through his mind.

 

Its out there...

 

He watched as the light under his door became a little dimmer.

 

Pressing his back up against the wall, and pulling the covers tighter around himself, he watched.

 

The light under the door went out.

 

Closing his eyes tightly, the blond boy whispered to himself...

 

“I'm not crazy. There's nothing there. I'm not crazy. There's nothing there. I'm not crazy. There's nothing there...”