Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eyes Cold As Stone ❯ Chapter Eighteen ( Chapter 18 )

Eyes Cold As Stone

Chapter 18

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing, Lady Une?" Relena Dorlan stormed into Une's office.

"Trying to prevent a war, Miss. Dorlan." Relena stopped in front of Une's desk and rested her hands flat on its shinny surface.

"Then why is it that I'm getting reports of explosions all around the world?" Une braced herself. This was the moment that she had been dreading. She had avoided reporting to Relena so she wouldn't have to waste time arguing over pacifistic views. She sighed.

"Because were trying to prevent a war."

"Why is it, Lady Une, that I'm getting my reports from sources that aren't the Preventers? Why aren't you discussing these raids with me?"

"Red tape." Relena fumed.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Une leaned forward.

"I have to make split-second decisions every day, Miss. Dorlan. I don't have time to play around your political game. I don't have the time to argue about whether or not this course of action is reliant upon the pacifism policy that you have instated."

"We are no longer a society of war, Lady Une."

"Tell that to the ones who insist upon making war. Tell that to the ones who blatantly attack our people. Tell that to the ones who have built up legions of war machines. Tell that to the ones who have threatened and possibly taken the life of one of my pilots. Tell that to them, Miss Dorlan." Relena remained silent, absorbing everything she had said.

"Lady Une, it is my business as President of the Earth's Sphere to be informed as to all decisions-especially those made relating to armed-conflict." Relena's tone was ice.

"I haven't done anything other than to re-build the Gundams, to increase our armed forces. In other words, Relena, we have no armed forces. Our enemy has an army." Une reached into her desk and pulled out a silver chain. She clutched the chain tightly, squeezing it as if it gave her strength. It didn't, though-it gave her only grief. It only reminded her of her mistakes.

"Then what about these reports?"

"I have sent my agents on anti-terrorism missions. They are the standard procedure. We are still in that mode, just an extremely intense version of it. We have not engaged in armed battle, and I sure as hell don't intend to."

"Lady Une, you need to confer with me on all matters. I cannot have you running a war behind my back." Une raised her voice.

"I cannot have my pilots dying out there because you feel the need to discuss matters with me. Miss Dorlan, this is not politics. People depend on my split-second decisions and not your debates." She squeezed the chain harder, squeezing out all of the pain.

"I will not go to war. These people haven't even attacked us." She rounded on Relena.

"Then why don't you tell me where Quatre Rebarba Winner is." There was a pause.

"Quatre? What do you mean?"

"He and Duo were on an infiltration mission seven months ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't need to be lectured on pacifism and why I was wrong in sending out missions to neutralize a threat on the safety of the nation." Relena looked like she had just been slapped.

"Lady Une, it is my duty-"

"Don't lecture me on your duty. Your duty is the same as mine-prevent war at all costs. Well, I tried, and now I don't know if Quatre is even alive."

"I…I don't know what to say."

"Say that I don't have to watch an agent of mine hand me this." She showed Relena the chain. It sparkled subtly in the light.

"What…"

"Wufei found it in the base that Quatre was being held in-the same one that was destroyed three nights ago. I daren't show it to Trowa because it would kill him. After all, he's the one who gave it to Quatre. Either let me make the decisions that I feel are necessary to prevent this war, or get your ass down here in an office and help me. Don't make me have to face the disappearance of another pilot. But know this, Relena, being here will be your one priority. Everything else will be secondary."

"I cannot abandon my duties to play war, Lady Une."

"Believe me, Miss Dorlan, I have not taken any steps more than what was forced of me."

"I don't want a war."

"Neither do I, but I have footage, Relena, of the torture that they have put Quatre through. Duo's whereabouts are unknown, and I have Heero right now working at Trowa, hoping to keep him sane enough that I don't have to suspend him from active duty." She tossed the chain onto the desk in front of Relena. "Don't make me have to receive any more of those." There was a long pause. She mentally crossed her fingers. Finally Relena turned to her.

"I will leave all matters in your hands. However, I am to be kept informed of all missions and decisions made. As for escalating to a higher level of battle, you will discuss that with me. No decisions will be made without my consent when it comes to fully engaging in war." There was another pause. "I will have Dorothy begin a search for Duo Maxwell and Quatre Rebarba Winner. You said that's its possible that he is alive?"

"I don't know, and as long as I don't know, then there is a possibility that he's alive. Someone was spotted leaving the base that exploded three nights ago. Trowa thought it was Wufei, but he was on the other side of the base from Trowa. There was no way that it could have been Wufei."

"Give me the location of the base and I will have Dorothy search for anything in a hundred mile radius. One way or another we will find Quatre. In the meantime-keep me informed of every move you make. I don't want any more surprises. The ball is in your court, now." Relena turned to leave. "Good luck, Lady Une."

"You, too, Relena Dorlan." Watching Relena leave, she sat slowly down, raising her hands to bury her face. She let out a ragged breath and dropped her head to her desk. She reached out to the chain and clutched it to her chest. "Oh, Quatre. Please be okay. Please be alive."

______________________________

Quatre staggered, falling to his knees. Gasping he clutched at his wound, blood flowing at an increasingly pace. His fingers felt cold and he couldn't feel his feet anymore. He had been stumbling through the forest for days, now, and he was loosing blood. He bent forward, lungs screaming for air they could no longer take in. Maybe he was wrong about the wound; maybe the bullet had pierced his lung. He slowly sank to the ground, forgotten and alone.

Trowa.

Tears spilled down, watering the grass below him. He didn't have enough air to sob. Where was Trowa? Why couldn't Trowa find him? Was Trowa even alive? Quatre squeezed his eyes shut, collapsing to the ground. He wouldn't think like that. Trowa had to be alive.

He vaguely heard a female shouting, but it seemed so far away, he paid it no mind. He felt warm hands on him, but couldn't find the strength to struggle.

Trowa, I'll miss you. I love you.

"Hold on, I've sent for an ambulance. Just hold on." The female voice sounded fuzzy, like she was speaking through several layers of cotton.

"Trowa…I love…you…Tro…wa…" Quatre closed his eyes.

______________________________

The sirens wailed in loss as the ambulance swerved around another corner. The paramedic worked frantically at the young man who had stumbled into her yard earlier. Mindy had at first been wary of the man, not knowing the ragged stranger from a thief or bum, but when he collapsed on her lawn, and his blood began staining her grass, she had stumbled over herself trying to get an ambulance called. Now, she was hanging onto the side of the ambulance for dear life as it swerved through the streets in effort to get to the emergency room. Even though she hadn't known the man, the paramedics had accosted her to come along, if only to describe to the doctors what she had seen. She watched with concerned sadness as the paramedic attempted to blow life back into the man. She wished that there was something more that she could do, but she wasn't the medical doctor in the family-she left that to her sister Sally.

"I have a heartbeat. Slow respiratory as well."

"Intersection." The paramedic working on the man and her braced for another curb check, or at lest the intense centrifugal force of the turning vehicle.

"ETA?"

"Two minutes." Mindy strained her head to see out of the front window, but couldn't see around the various pieces of equipment. She contented herself with watching the blonde stranger's chest rise and fall in slow and unsteady breaths. Please hurry.

"Driveway." The ambulance rocked as it flew over a raised drive. The vehicle jerked to a halt and both paramedics busied themselves with getting the unconscious man out of the ambulance and into the ER. Mindy followed slowly, giving the paramedics plenty of room. She touched her forehead and hoped that she would never have to ride in an ambulance again. She started as a doctor in scrubs touched her arm.

"Ma'am? Are you the one who came in with the blonde man?" Mindy nodded her head. "What's his name, ma'am?"

"I don't know. He collapsed on my lawn. I don't know him." The doctor turned to a nurse and called out something that Mindy didn't understand-most likely tests that the man would be going through.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"I saw that he had a large wound in the right side of his upper chest. It looked like he had been shot. His breathing was raspy and wet. He also has a lot of bruises-new and old-all over his arms and head. I didn't inspect anything else, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. That's enough for us to get a picture. We can find the rest out later." The doctor turned and ran off. Mindy sat down shakily on one of the waiting benches. She tugged at her clothes wondering if she should call Sally. She absently stared at the sterile white walls. It had been how long? Four, five years since she had last seen Sally. It was before the war, anyway. The last time they had talked was about a year and a half ago, they actually weren't very close. It was always hard to be friends with someone five years younger. Mindy sighed, no, she probably shouldn't bother Sally.

"Ma'am?" Another nurse approached her. "If you want to leave your number, we can contact you with any updates as to John Doe's condition."

"John Doe?"

"That's what we name all male patients who don't have names."

"Oh. Yes, I would like to know how he's doing." Mindy wrote her information down on a pad that the nurse handed her and allowed herself to be escorted out of the ER.

______________________________

"I have a list of several towns that would be plausible for Quatre to have reached." Heero handed the list to Lady Une. "I think that Trowa and I should visit the two closest to the base, while the others split the rest of the list up." He watched as Une scrutinized the list.

"Do you think Trowa is up for it?"

"For this-yes."

"But not for anything else?" He took a deep breath. He hated doing shit like this, but he wouldn't risk his friend's life.

"I think that as of now, he is unfit for more difficult missions."

"And why is that."

"His emotional stress pertaining to Quatre." Une nodded thoughtfully and placed the list on her desk.

"I had a visit from Relena Dorlan earlier today." He raised an eyebrow. "She was very unhappy about our performance, but I convinced her that it was necessary. However, in the future, I need to know about all missions. I respect your decision to move quickly, but I need to be present. I am not your enemy, Heero. I want to help you as much as I can. Don't disinclude me because of red tape. That's my job, not yours. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Then in that case, I accept your plan. You and Trowa will take the two closest towns to the base. Split the rest of the locations up between the others. As for future missions, Trowa is now suspended from active duty. The mission debriefings I received from Sally and Noin are the basis of my decision. Until he can prove himself to Sally, he will be considered in-active. I will inform him of this change as soon as you get beck from your mission. Questions?" He shook his head. "Dismissed."

Heero turned and left her office. He waited for the elevator to arrive, not in the mood to take the stairs. Trowa was now in-active. Heero held his forehead in his hand as he absorbed this new development. That makes three pilots that were gone. And they still didn't have any idea as to where Duo had gone.

Duo.

The braided idiot hadn't shown up for work one day about two months after his suicide attempt. He didn't call in sick or anything-he just hadn't come in. Concerned, Heero had gone to his house to check up on him, hoping just to find him hungover, sick or asleep. Instead he had found an empty apartment. Duo's clothes still hung messily in his closet, the garbage hadn't been taken out and the place was still mildly messy. However, he had noticed that a duffel bag was missing as well as Duo's gun, a couple pants, and a few shirts, some underwear and socks were also missing. Duo's hairbrush was gone as well as his shampoo and razor. Either he had left in a hurry or had decided that no one would notice that he was gone if he left his toothbrush and toothpaste. Heero systematically had gone through Duo's entire apartment and deducted that Duo had left abruptly on a trip. He reported to Lady Une that he most likely took a vacation to get away from his stress-to come to terms with what happened to Quatre. Une had seemed to swallow that. He had, on the other hand, tried to find any clue as to where Duo could have gone. After a month of dead end searches, Heero finally gave up-focusing instead on bringing Quatre home.

Heero walked slowly into his quiet office. He stared at Duo's still messy desk-he didn't have the heart to clean it, it would have just been too final. He knew that Trowa had felt the same way and that's why Quatre's desk still had everyday clutter on it, and the pictures were kept dust-free. He alone knew that Trowa had taken up sleeping at Quatre's apartment, rather than his own. He didn't mention it to anyone else because he knew it was Trowa's way of coping. He heard Trowa knock on his door.

"Can I come in?" Heero waved Trowa into his office. Trowa took a seat. "How did the meeting with Lady Une go?" Heero sighed, remembering Trowa's in-active status.

"Well. We can leave whenever we want. I just have to give everyone else their assignments before we do, and then I'm ready." Trowa nodded mechanically. "Hopefully, one of us will find Quatre in this first sweep. I'd hate to have him suffer any more than he already has."

"I agree." Trowa stood and walked out. Heero could guarantee that it was to grab a few necessary items for the mission. Heero picked up his mission bag and headed over to Wufei's office to delegate missions.

An hour later, he and Trowa were seated comfortably on a passenger jet, heading toward the first of the two towns.

"Do you want to check St. Mary's Hospital or Swedish Hospital first?" Heero asked.

"Don't care." He sighed, Trowa was listless. Although he was surviving, that was about all that could be applied to Trowa. He had done nothing except for drift from place to place in a mockery of living. There wasn't anything he could think of to do, though. He could only hope that they found Quatre, because he feared if they couldn't, Trowa might not be around much longer. He watched as Trowa crossed his arms and closed his eyes. In the old days of the war, Trowa would have been going into a light dose-becoming wide awake at a moment's notice-or at the slightest sound. Now, Heero wasn't quite so sure. For all he knew, Trowa was taking a nap that he wouldn't wake up from. Heero turned to the window and watched the passing landscape slip silently under their plane. If only he could turn back the clock and prevent Quatre and Duo from ever going on that mission in the first place…but such thoughts were useless. He closed his eyes and wished to be in a kind world-a world where all of his friends were happy and free from pain. He could absently feel a solitary tear roll quietly down his cheek.

After the plane arrived, he and Trowa picked up their rental car and headed to the first hospital. Heero tried to start up a conversation several times, but Trowa either didn't answer or just answered with a grunt. It was none too soon when they pulled up to the first hospital. They walked inside, with high hopes. Heero walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me. Have you had a patient admitted within the last three days by the name of Quatre Winner?" The nurse checked the computer.

"I'm sorry, sir, but no one by that name has been admitted here."

"How about a man about nineteen years old, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and he's about 5'6"?" After a moment the nurse shook her head again.

"I'm sorry. No one by that description." Heero hung his head.

"Thanks." He grabbed Trowa and headed out to the car. "There's still the other hospital and the other towns." He tried to reassure Trowa.

"Just drive." He shook his head and moved out into traffic. A short while later, they pulled up to the other hospital in town. Getting out of the silent car, he watched as an ambulance pulled away from the ER. He escorted Trowa inside. He flagged down a nurse.

"Can you tell me if anyone has been admitted by the name of Quatre? He's blonde, blue-eyes, about 5'6". He would have been brought in just recently." He received another sad shake of the head.

"You could try the other hospital in town, St. Mary's."

"Already did."

"I'm sorry." He turned to Trowa who looked about ready to break again. He placed a comforting hand on Trowa's shoulder and led him outside. He opened Trowa's door and watched as a woman who closely resembled Sally hailed a taxi. Seeing that Trowa was settled, he moved around to the driver's side door and crawled in.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"There's still hope."

"Face it, there's not."