Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 28 ( Chapter 28 )

A/N Thank you Free Skylark and Kai-Li!

:Huggles:

Without your help, this chapter would totally,

miserably and most utterly have SUCKED!

I'm hoping this will be a lot better than what

I had originally come up with.

-

Weissangel24

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Chapter Twenty-eight

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"Status, Winner?" Wu Fei demanded as he replaced the Russian's restraints with handcuffs.

"Exhausted would be an understatement." The blonde replied, leaning into Trowa's supportive embrace.

/"Wu Fei knows about your empathic ability."/ The banged boy mentally informed him. Dismissing the startled, then frightened look his small lover was giving him, he continued. "You don't have to be discrete with him."

'Y-You're... telepathic? Since When?'

/"Calm down, koi. I'll explain later."/

'I'll hold you to that, Trowa Barton!' Quatre thought back, burying himself deeper into the taller boy's arms before turning his attention to Wu Fei, who had watched the silent exchange between his friends with a bit of confusion. "My mental shields have all but shattered. It's going to take me several days to rebuild them." He sighed, "I feel lousy..."

"Have... Have you ever lost your shielding?" the Chinese boy asked curiously.

The blonde fell quiet for a few moments before finally answering his friend's inquiry, "Once."

"What happened? Is it something we should be concerned about?"

"I went mad." Quatre shuddered as haunting memories reared their ugly heads, "I went mad and I built Wing Zero."

"Forgive me." Wu Fei bowed slightly, "I should not have pried."

"You had a good reason." The blonde absolved.

"I've called Lady Une." Hiiro announced, slipping his cell phone into his pocket. "Back up is on their w-"

"DUO!" Quatre screamed suddenly, falling to the floor.

Behind him, Trowa was gripping his head, pain marring his expression as he staggered back away from his lover before collapsing to his knees. "T-Too... Loud... Aaugh!"

"What is it?" Hiiro demanded, holding the smaller boy's shoulders as Quatre reflexively tried to curl into a ball, "Quatre!"

"Pain... Fear... R-Regret..." The blonde wheezed, air refusing to enter his lungs. "Oh Allah! He's resigned to die!"

"He says that he's sorry, Hiiro." Trowa shuddered, his voice a bare whisper.

"Wha-" The Japanese boy's face paled as a cold dark fear took over.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" The empath shrieked, desperately trying to escape the death grip as well as the emotional bombardment from his friend, "L-Let GO!"

"NO!" The perfect soldier shouted, giving the smaller boy a harsh shake, "He can't! WHEREE is he?"

"Y-You're h-hurting me, Hiiro!" Quatre whimpered, his fist twisted in his shirt as agony and sorrow mixed with physical pain danced across his ashen face. 'T-Trowa?'

/"I'm here, My love."/ The banged boy strained to control himself, "There's no time- Let Quatre go, Hiiro."

"Where. Is. He?"

"Yui." Wu Fei's calm voice commanded attention to be given to him. "Release Winner. Now."

"Duo..." Hiiro met the Chinese boy's gaze with lost eyes.

"You're acting irrational, and that won't save Maxwell." Wu Fei stated bluntly as he knelt beside Quatre, "Focus on your training, Hiiro. Control your fear."

Hiiro's hands left the blonde's shoulders as the cold apathetic persona of the Perfect Soldier manifested.

As soon as Hiiro released him, Quatre inhaled sharply, greedily, as if he had been held underwater for to long, before he started to sway.

"Easy, Quatre." Wu Fei soothed as he steadied the overtaxed new-type.

"Location of MIA agent?" Hiiro demanded, his voice mono-toned.

"The basement... Down two sets of stairs..." Trowa grimaced as he tried to stand, "A long... hallway... F-Follow the-Augh!"

"Follow what?" The soldier glared at his comrade, "Barton-report!"

"The cables..." Quatre weakly whispered as he leaned against Wu Fei. "Follow the cables..." He repeated, surrendering to the dark comfort that offered shelter from the storm of his friends' emotions that threatened to wash him away.

"Duo..." Hiiro breathed, momentarily faltering against the soldier before quickly recovering. Taking out his gun, he turned and ran towards the stairwell. 'Hang in there, Koi... I'm coming..."

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The flame...

The heat...

The burning...

The pain was so horrific that the only thing Duo was aware of was the intensity of it. His screams echoed throughout the building.

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"DUOOOO!" Isis screamed, feeling powerless to save the braided teenager. She couldn't abandon the hostages, nor did she have enough energy to extend her shield and maintain it.

"You should have known not to go against Him." The pyro-kinetic sneered.

"Don't you know that your kid is as good as dead?" The other new-type added, fanning the flames around their victim.

"NO! I don't believe you! You don't have a clue as to what's going on, TJ! Neither do you, CC!" Isis's eyes flashed, "I can still save her!"

"Like you saved him?" TJ smirked at the smoldering form. "You did a great job of that."

"SHUT UP!" The blonde screamed, "SHUT UP! You Don't know what you're talking about!"

"DUO!" Hiiro cried, skidding to a dumbfounded, horrified halt. "No-no-no... Duo-Koi..."

"Another one?" CC gasped, sending a wave of wind towards the soldier.

"Not for long!" Her partner growled, launching flames. "DIE!"

"NO!" Hiiro shouted, fury and loss burning in his Prussian depths. Fighting to stay on his feet against the rushing wind, he aimed his gun.

"Fool! Shoot inot the oncoming wind and the bullet will be sent back and hit you!"

"You're the fool." Hiiro glared, adjusting his aim slightly before squeezing the trigger twice.

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"Quatre?"

The pain... Pure pain that pulsates through to your soul's core, so that pain is all you feel... -'Duo...'

"What happened?"

Open worry and love mingled with suppressed strain and discomfort... fighting to maintain order of mind...-'Trowa...'

"I think he overloaded..."

The loss... denial that a beloved partner is gone... -'Hiiro...'

"Will he be alright?"

Calm, quiet, controlled concern. The sanctuary of a disciplined mind. Steady heart. Noble strength... -'Wu Fei...'

"God, I hope so... Quatre? Please wake up, Koi... It's me..."

Helpless frustration... overwhelming guilt... A mother's fear...-'Who? I don't know this heart...'

"Quatre, come back. Don't hide."

An evil satisfaction, self assured of victory...- 'Nicholai!'

"Take control..."

Each individual emotion screamed, shrieked, scratched and clawed for dominance of the empath. Each demanding to be heard and successfully smothered the blonde so that he couldn't even feel his own emotions. -'How can I take control when there is nothing left of me in my own mind? No one should feel this much misery... Make it go away... Please? Just make it END!'

"Quatre, Koi, please open your eyes?"

'Open my eyes? I can't... It hurts too much...'

"Koi, we need you."

'I can't! I can't face anymore pain!'

"I need you."

'I can't do this alone! I can't face the pain by myself-Oh Allah! My friends!'

/"You won't be by yourself, Quatre."/

'Zero...?'

/"No."/

'Trowa.'

/"Come back?"/

Slowly, wary azure eyes forced themselves open to be met with caring emerald. "Welcome back."

"Are you alright, Winner?" The Chinese boy asked.

Silently, the blonde nodded.

"Quatre..." Trowa breathed with relief, washing the mentally broken blonde with love and assurance.

"We have to help them..." The smaller boy whispered, straining to get up.

"Help who?" Wu Fei asked, placing a restraining hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Our friends." Quatre frowned as he gazed past the Chinese boy, "Nicholai is gone."

"Wha-When?" Wu Fei sputtered confirming with his own eyes that their prisoner was indeed missing.

"He's on his way to the basement..." Trowa mused as he listened in on the Russian's thoughts. "He's after your sister, Quat."

"Sister? Which one- Why would she be here?"

"The one you don't remember- Isis."

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To be continued...