Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eyes Cold As Death ❯ Twenty-five ( Chapter 25 )

Eyes Cold As Death

Chapter Twenty-five--Consequence

Duo paced unsteadily through his hospital room, one hand behind him clutching the folds of his gown together so his ass didn't have to hang uncovered in the sterile air. He worriedly chewed on the nails of his other hand. Heero sat dazed on one of the beds, flicking through TV channels slowly. Duo glanced up at the TV and scowled. It was frankly, quite irritating, especially considering that Heero wasn't even paying attention to the TV, he was too busy staring out of the room into the hall beyond. He stopped his pacing to just gaze at Heero. A wrapping of white gauze circled his head, hiding the multiple stitches that had laced his split skin back together. His color was returning to normal, but when Heero had launched himself out of Wing Zero, he had looked almost white.

They had gotten quite a scare when they had each emerged from their Gundams--even Wufei had been a little banged up. Duo didn't think he had looked too bad, but seeing himself reflected in Heero's concerned visage, Duo had to concede that he probably had looked like shit. He gently fingered his own concoction of bandages and stitches. Thankfully, he had only needed stitches in his shoulder, but his left wrist was immobilized due to a sprain and his head refused to subside in its persistent throbbing. The doctor that had attended him had explained very patiently that he had sustained a concussion from multiple hits to the head. Duo had struggled to keep his mouth shut so he didn't tell the doctor how stupid he was…that of course he had hit his head. Hmmm…let me count the times: when the bomb went off, when I fell down those fucking stairs, when Deathscythe was hit that one time…then of course there was the other time that Deathscythe had been hit…and, well, you got the point.

Duo continued biting his nails as he slowly turned to face the hall that Heero was staring so intently at. The ambulances had met them at the hangers and had promptly loaded them, racing to the hospital--especially with Quatre and his extensive injuries. He hadn't passed out, or if he had, he had woken back up by the time they had reached the hanger. Which, of course, was a good sign. But, Duo reflected, Quatre had looked like death warmed over, re-frozen and thawed in the desert heat. In other words, it wasn't a pretty sight. Quatre had collected even more injuries during his time in the battle, and Duo found himself thanking whatever miracle had occurred in order to keep Quatre alive. Now, he was pacing his hospital room, chewing on his fingernails, trying to keep his gown closed, and praying with all of his might that Quatre would survive.

"Duo, sit down." Heero's gentle voice drifted over to him and he shook his head slowly in response.

"I can't. I'll go insane." Heero put the remote down.

"Come here." Duo walked over to the bed Heero was sitting in and sat down where Heero was patting the mattress. Without saying anything, Heero gently enfolded him into a warm embrace and Duo sank into it, fighting the tears that so desperately wanted to fall. Heero was still holding him when Sally dragged herself wearily into their room.

"Hey." She lowered herself to the other bed as though she was an old woman with arthritis. Duo turned out of Heero's embrace to watch her. He didn't say a thing. He couldn't think of anything to say, and if he could've, it probably would have been stupid anyway. So, he watched, with Heero's hand comfortingly on his shoulder, and waited for Sally to say something. Sally rubbed her face with her hands, exhaustion standing in stark contrast with the rest of her face.

"Quatre will be just fine." Sally reassured with no preamble. Duo practically passed out with relief. Heero's fingers gently squeezed his shoulder, communication his relief as well. "He, as you know, had extensive injuries, so it will be a while before he's up and about, but he's fine. He's sleeping now, but as soon as he wakes up, I'll let you visit him for a short while."

"Sleeping?" Duo echoed numbly, the relief and joy overloading his mind.

"Yes. He's sleeping off the effects of the anesthesia. I'd say he'll be awake by morning." Sally glanced down at her watch. "Its way too early in the day for me to still be awake. I'm going to find an empty room and pass out." Duo nodded, thanking her automatically as she shuffled out of the room. He was confused. He turned to Heero.

"Early?" Heero's face stretched into a wide, though tired, smile.

"Its something like two in the morning, Duo. Didn't you notice the darkness outside?" Heero gestured toward the window where the curtains were placed well apart, allowing them to view the starry night. Duo stared out the window in amazement. He had totally lost track of the time. He could see fires burning low in the distance.

"Oh." He proclaimed stupidly. "Oh." Heero chuckled and drew him into another embrace.

"Quatre will be okay. You will be okay. We will all be okay. Let's go to sleep."

"But…" Duo protested weakly, more out of habit than anything else.

"We can deal with everything else in the daytime morning." Duo shrugged, and without waiting for Heero to move, he snuggled up to him, completely disregarding the other bed that remained empty. Heero chuckled again as he shifted to make room for Duo. "I guess Sally could have stayed here." Duo shrugged and closed his eyes, pushing everything from his mind so he could sleep. He didn't want to think.

______________________________

Sally dragged herself exactly two doors down from Heero's and Duo's room, entered the darkened room, fell on the empty bed and was asleep before she registered her head touching the pillow.

______________________________

Quatre woke to blessed numbness. There was something at work in his body, for he felt drugged numbness spread throughout his entire body. His eyes were sticky, and he had to blink them rapidly to get them to focus. There was movement off to his side. A hand gently brushed sweaty bangs out of his eyes. He smiled in gratitude.

"How are you?" Wufei asked. Quatre blinked rapidly again, forcing his eyes to focus on his friend--his brother.

"Sore--yet not sore." Quatre frowned, he wasn't sure if he was making sense or not. He could feel his pain through the fuzzy layer of morphine in his blood, but the morphine was also doing a tremendous job keeping him pain free. It was a contradiction, but it was true. Wufei pushed something into his hand.

"Press this for more pain relief." Quatre nodded in understanding. The glorious blue morphine button. He was sure, now that that was what was flowing through his system. Morphine--the nectar of the Gods.

"What happened?" Quatre licked his lips. They were dry and cracked. His mouth was full of cotton, and he scraped his tongue against the roof of his mouth as though he were trying to get wet bread that had stuck to the roof of his mouth off. Wufei handed him a small glass of water. "Thanks." Quatre gulped the whole thing down. It helped, but not by much. He dropped his hand holding the now empty cup down by his side. He felt Wufei's warm fingers take the glass from him. A few moments later, the cup was press back into his hands, full with fresh water.

"We defeated the Eagle Squadron…barely." Wufei sat down to deliver his answer. Quatre winced.

"Heero? Duo?"

"Both beat up, but fine."

"Noin? I know that Zechs is dead." He could hear the click in Wufei's throat as he swallowed thickly.

"Yeah. His suit blew up. There are cleanup and recovery crews on the scene now trying to find some hope, but…" Quatre understood the unspoken. There was no way Zechs could have survived a total explosion of his mobile suit--not while being secured inside. "Noin is grieving, but fine. A little worse for the wear, but…" Wufei trailed off.

"You?" Wufei offered a small smile.

"Fine. I'm fine." Quatre looked at him expectantly. Wufei sighed. It was obvious that Wufei was hiding something, and it was only a matter of time before he discovered what it was.

"I was at HQ when it exploded. Does anyone know what happened?" Wufei nodded.

"Forensics found C-4 residue in the cafeteria. We believe that Jezebel planted a bomb."

"To get rid of us." Wufei shrugged.

"Probably. I guess we'll never know. You definitely killed her." Quatre shrugged, uncaringly.

"Served her right." Wufei held up his hands with a sad smile gracing his features.

"Hey! I'm not complaining."

"What else?" Wufei gave a suffering sigh.

"You're going to be persistent and not let me off the hook, aren't you."

"Basically." Wufei rubbed his eyes, exhaustion suddenly evident in his body language. When he lowered his hand, Quatre could see the immense pain hidden behind his facial expressions.

"Relena is paralyzed."

"What?" Quatre exclaimed.

"She was in Heero's office when the bomb went off. We all were, except you, Sally, Duo, Zechs and Noin."

"Oh."

"She'll never walk again, but otherwise she will heal. Lady Une passed away while Sally was trying to save her." Wufei continued, his voice becoming raw.

"Why?"

"Internal bleeding that couldn't be stopped." Wufei gestured lamely at nothing. "Sally's fine, just exhausted. You will heal in time." Wufei fixed him with a firm warning glare. "You will stay in that bed until you have been told by Sally that you may get up." Quatre sank back into the pillows. He nodded his consent weakly. He pressed the Morphine button. He didn't really feel like waltzing around anyway. He was perfectly fine staying in bed.

"You've told me about everyone except Trowa, Catherine and Dorothy."

"Catherine was evacuated safely with the rest of the civilians. She's staying at a hotel north of town until officials open the city again. Dorothy is fine, she'll be here later to visit everyone." Wufei smiled. "From what I was able to gather from her on the phone, we owe her a hell of a big thanks for her help. It seems that we won by a fluke." Quatre nodded. Silence filled the room. Quatre sighed.

"And Trowa?" Why did Wufei have to keep him in this suspense? Why couldn't he just tell him about Trowa? Wufei's throat clicked again, the sound oppressive. Wufei started to get up.

"I should go." Quatre fixed him with a morphine-hindered glare. It was potent enough to make Wufei fall back into his chair. "He's dead, Quatre. I'm sorry."

______________________________

This time, he was pacing restlessly around the hall instead of his hospital room. Heero stood just a few meters away from him, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, watching Duo as he paced back and forth, muttering to himself. He reached the opposite wall, spun on his heel and trekked over to where Heero was standing.

They had been down to the morgue to identify Trowa's body. It had been unbearably hard. Even Heero had cried. The autopsy people had cleaned him up and draped a clean white sheet over him to hide most of his injuries. But they could still see where some shrapnel had entered his temple. Duo had thought that he was going to throw up, but he hadn't, instead nodding numbly when the examiner asked if this was Trowa Barton. The only thing that kept going through his head--at least coherent thought-wise--was: thank God he's not crispy.

Duo shuddered at his highly inappropriate thought, thankful that no one could read his thoughts. He was sure that someone would have decked him for the crispy thought. Even now it made his stomach churn in alarming ways. Duo stopped his pacing to swallow bile back down.

The elevator dinged its ascent to the floor, opening its doors smoothly. Dorothy stepped out, dark rings under her eyes. She flashed them a smile, though. Duo nodded.

"How is everyone?" She asked, coming to a stop before them. Duo resumed his pacing, unsure of what would come out if he opened his mouth--vomit or words.

"So far, everyone is recovering." Dorothy nodded at Heero's report.

"Relena?"

"No change." Heero paused, re-crossing his arms across his chest. "How are you?" Dorothy shrugged.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to type again, but I'm fine." Duo looked quizzically at her.

"Type?" He echoed. He had been doing a lot of that lately. It was as if his mind just didn't feel like processing anything.

"Yeah, I was hacking all day yesterday. It was hell trying to cash the Eagle Squadron's mainframe. But I finally deactivated that damned signal that was dispersed over the battlefield. I still don't know what it did." Dorothy shrugged and looked down the hall where Relena's room was. Duo turned to Heero who seemed to know what she was talking about.

"That explains it. I understand, now." Heero said to himself. Both Duo and Dorothy quirked up eyebrows. Heero looked up from the study of his shoes. "One moment, the second wave was bearing down on us as we fought organized dolls. The next, the second wave just stopped, and we were suddenly fighting disorganized dolls that began to collide with one another. That signal was probably the controlling frequency that gave the dolls their instruction." Heero snorted, his gaze falling abashedly to his feet. "We won because of you." Dorothy's eyes widened in shock and she made a strangled noise in the back of her throat.

Heero raised his eyes. His face was serious and somber. "Thank you." Dorothy just nodded. Duo saw Wufei exit from Quatre's room, closing the door behind him quietly and wiping his eyes. Heero and Dorothy glanced at him.

"How is he?" Duo asked, stepping forward.

"He's awake. He'll be okay." Wufei heaved a great sigh, sorrow emanating from his in almost visible waves.

"Wufei?" He looked at them, eyes moist.

"It's just so hard." Wufei sniffed. Duo stared at him in shock. Wufei was about ready to break down in tears.

"What is so hard, Wufei?" Heero asked quietly, coming up to stand behind Duo, his hand wrapping comfortingly around Duo's elbow.

"Telling Quatre…You know him. You can't keep anything from him…he's too damned stubborn."

"Keep what?" Dorothy whispered. Duo had a good idea, and he started moving forward, gently prying himself out of Heero's rapidly firming grip.

"About Trowa. He was asking about everyone…and…" Wufei sniffed again. He wiped his eyes. Duo moved past him, reaching out to take the door handle in his hand. It dawned on him then, that he hadn't said anything and that Wufei was probably feeling immense guilt for telling Quatre. But, he had nothing to feel guilty about; someone had to tell Quatre. They couldn't hide the truth forever.

Duo reached out, placing his hand on Wufei's shoulder, silently reassuring him through his touch. Wufei's fingers entwined with his, and they stood motionless for a few moments. Wufei nodded once, removed his hand and turned away.

"Thank you." Duo nodded in response, not quite trusting himself to speak. He turned the knob and pushed the door open. Duo entered. The light was subdued. Not dark, but certainly not light. Quatre lay on the hospital bed, staring at a camouflaged point on the wall in front of him. Duo took a couple hesitant steps into the room. Quatre didn't acknowledge him

"Quatre?" Quatre physically jerked, turning his head to face Duo. He blinked once, slowly.

"Hi Duo." Quatre's voice was rough from anesthesia. He was pale. Duo wrung his hands, shifting from one foot to the other.

"How are you, Quatre?" To say that he was nervous was an understatement as he waited with baited breath for Quatre to answer. After all, how were you supposed to act after your best friend finds out that he lost his lover, found him again eventhough he didn't know his lover, finds his lover again this time with memories and then loses him again. He managed to confuse himself with that line of thought. He sighed.

"Numb." Duo's forehead furrowed.

"Numb?" He repeated. Quatre nodded slowly, his head shifting up and down from a guide wire.

"I just had a shot of morphine." Quatre said as though that explained everything. His face settled into fatigued lines, hardening as much as a visage could while on morphine. "Plus, I found out…" He trailed off, his words slurring slightly. Quatre turned his up to Duo. They were too bright. "Is Trowa really…" Quatre's voice cracked. Duo nodded, tears flooding his eyes again. His throat closed up and he could feel his chin trembling.

"Y--Yes. I…I identified his bod…body less than an hour ag--go." Duo sniffed. He tried to prevent his tears from overcoming him. Fuck…he had just told his best friend that the man he loved was dead. It was harder than he thought it would be.

Quatre's face was still. Serene, almost. Quatre blinked slowly. He swallowed once. Duo watched, as Quatre's eyes became bloodshot and rimmed with red. For all intents and purposes, it looked as if Quatre had just bawled his eyes out, but Duo hadn't seen one tear fall. Quatre swallowed again, Duo watched with rapt attention as Quatre's Adam's apple bobbed once, twice. Quatre turned his head on ball bearings to gaze solemnly out the window.

"Quatre?" Duo croaked; his voice cracking from unshed tears. Quatre didn't answer. A tear rolled slowly from Quatre's eye. Another followed. Silence thickened the atmosphere, making it hard to breathe. Duo couldn't contain his tears any longer. Heaves cramped his chest as he tried unsuccessfully to restrain them. Quatre continued to stare out of the window silently. After an almost infinite silence, Quatre spoke softly. The tears were not evident in his voice.

"You were right, Duo." Duo looked at Quatre quizzically through his tears.

"About?" He choked out, voice thick with tears.

"Murphy is an ass."