Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting the Darkness ❯ Chapter 6
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: deathangel125 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Supernatural / Thriller / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 06.23.2012 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 332 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Supernatural / Thriller / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 06.23.2012 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 332 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: The G-boys and Gundam Wing don’t belong to me.
Warnings: Located in the first part. Be sure to look or you might be surprised.
FIGHTING THE DARKNESS – PART 6
“Mr. Barton, I hate to bring this up at such a time for fear of sounding crass and uncaring, but it has been brought to our attention Mr. Maxwell has no insurance.”
Looking up from his computer, where he had been doing the search the doctor had suggested, Trowa stared at the man in the doorway for a few seconds, trying to decide what he should do. An answer came to him that seemed so perfect he almost smiled. “Let me make some phone calls. I’m sure I can arrange things to the hospital’s satisfaction.”
“I’ll come back in the morning, sir. There’s no rush, and we are taking a lot off the total bill in light of Mr. Maxwell’s service during the war, but we simply can’t help him for free.”
“I understand, and I’m sure Duo would, too. I thank you for your patience. I’ll make arrangements for his bills by tonight, for any he has or will incur until he recovers.”
The man hesitated, lowering his clipboard. “You realize he may never wake up, don’t you? The recovery rate for coma patients is very low, even under the best circumstances.”
“He’ll wake up,” Trowa said firmly, not willing to doubt.
Peering across the room to where Duo lay motionless, the man offered a small smile, “I hope so. He’s a great man. It would be a shame if he doesn’t wake up when we all owe him so much.”
The man left, closing the door behind him. Alone with Duo, Trowa leaned over, glancing at their clasped hands. “Did you hear that, Duo? He doesn’t think you’re worthless, or useless. He didn’t say you were a good man, but a great one. I’ve heard things like that since I began looking for you. Everyone here wants you to live. They all look up to you, just like I do.”
It had been two days since his arrival at the hospital; Trowa had spent all his time in the building. During the long hours of the day, he scoured the internet for occurrences like his and Duo’s, where one person was dreaming and another could enter the dream. He hadn’t found anything that said he should be able to talk to Duo, but continued to search. When he took breaks from that, he tried to find anything about Duo’s past, taking snippets of what he heard in dreams.
He had found his first clue when he had searched for any mention of a plague on the L2 colony, finally finding the information he needed and wondering how the thousands of deaths had been covered up when the plague had swept through the low-income colony. Nearly half the low-income population had been gone by the time the plague had finally died out, done running its course.
That had led to Duo’s brief mention of the people that had died at the church. It hadn’t taken long to connect the Maxwell church massacre with Duo – who had apparently taken the name in either memory or penance. Finding a photo of the aftermath, Trowa had clicked on it, only to gape at the small, forlorn figure of a child almost hidden in the shadows as people tried to put out the fire. Even in the black and white photo he could see the intensity of the wide eyes as they focused on the bodies being loaded into a coroner’s van.
Following Duo through the war had been easy enough, already knowing where to look. Even the first year after the end of the battles had information of Duo’s life, telling of his partnership in the salvage business and his seemingly perfect relationship with Hilde. The second year there had been fewer details, the former Gundam pilots being replaced with more recent news. There had been a short mention of the acts of charity Duo had made of both his time and money, mainly focusing on a new church being built under the name of the New Maxwell Church.
The information had been printed less than a month before Hilde had kicked him out. To learn of the woman’s deception right after construction of the church was completed had to be painful, and a second piece of the puzzle that had eventually combined to bring about Duo’s downfall.
Thinking of this, Trowa tightened his hand around Duo’s for a moment, reaching his other hand over to play with the strands of Duo’s much shorter hair. “What else happened to you, Duo? You were always so proud of your hair, what made you get so much of it cut off? You’ve always been one of the strongest people I know, and I didn’t think anything could drag you down this way. I’ve looked and looked, but I can’t find anything. Can you give me some clue to help you? Will Hilde know anything?”
The small squeeze of Duo’s hand had Trowa jerking in surprise, eyes flicking to the sleeping face for confirmation. Though there was nothing, he nodded, “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow, when that asshole isn’t around.” This time there was no imagining the way Duo’s eyes twitched under the close lids.
Withdrawing his hand, Trowa pulled out his cellphone before he forgot the call he needed to make, sneering as he saw several voicemails and messages that had been left in the last few days. Without the slightest bit of guilt, he erased them all, anger burning in his gut as he dialed.
“Trowa, are you all right? Why haven’t you called before this? We’ve all been so worried about you.”
“Sucks when your calls are ignored, doesn’t it, Quatre?”
“I believe you’ve made your point sufficiently, Trowa.” The blonde’s voice was less worried now, and more irritated, having realized Trowa wasn’t hurt or in danger. “I’m assuming you didn’t call just to chat.”
Just beginning to make his point, Trowa sat on the edge of Duo’s bed, fingers touching the white gauze carefully, “I need a favor.”
“All you had to do was ask. You know I’ll do anything to help you.”
Hands clenching around the phone, Trowa wondered why the same care hadn’t been offered to Duo. “I’m afraid I’ve racked up quite a bill here and there is no way I can pay for it.”
Quatre sounded baffled when he replied, but he didn’t hesitate, “Very well. Let me have the name of the business and I’ll settle the bill for you.”
Anticipating the reaction he was about to get, he lowered his voice slightly, “I’m at the Kerney Hospital on L2.”
“Oh my god. Are you okay? What happened? Why are you at the hospital?”
“The room is in Duo’s name, not mine. I’m here to see him.”
Silence filled the line for a long moment, Quatre finally asking softly, “Duo’s in the hospital?”
“He was brought in five days ago after trying to kill himself - a decision he made after calling you, Heero, and Wufei and getting no answer. You tell me, Quatre, have I sufficiently made my point about not returning phone calls?”
“It was one call, Trowa,” defended the blonde. “I wasn’t even home to get the message until later.”
At his wit’s end, Trowa allowed the anger he felt thread into his words, “It wasn’t the first call you ignored. I know you have your messages forwarded if your assistant believes they’re important. Mine are forwarded, as are Heero’s and Wufei’s. Why wasn’t Duo important enough to have his calls sent through to you? Have you really grown so careless and callous about someone that believed in you?”
“Trowa, I didn’t know!”
“How could you know? You didn’t care enough to know. One phone call was all it would have taken to help him. Five minutes of your precious time was all he needed.” The wrenching sobs did little to penetrate his anger.
“Can I speak to him?”
“He’s in a coma. He’s not able to speak to anyone.”
“I’ll come right away. If I leave tonight, I should be able to get there -”
“I don’t want you here,” Trowa interrupted coldly. “You didn’t have time for Duo before. You can’t make that up by being here now. Since you obviously have more money than time, you can take care of his bills at the hospital. I expect either Heero or Wufei to deal with his other expenses, from his rent to hiring someone to clean the bloodstains from his apartment.”
“Apartment? I thought he was living with Hilde.”
“He was until she kicked him out almost a year ago.”
“If I had known I would have called him. You have to believe me.”
The plea was met with doubt. “You wouldn’t even answer when he tried to call. How many times did you ignore his messages? Did you even listen to them before erasing them?” Silence met his last inquiry, giving him the answer. “How many calls did you ignore, Quatre? Five, ten, a dozen, a hundred?” At the soft sobs, Trowa looked at Duo’s face, so pale and gaunt. “You all owe him for more than you can repay, but we’ll start with his bills. Take care of them, Quatre. Give Heero and Wufei my instructions. I don’t want to see any of you here, not at all. When Duo wakes up, if he wants you here, I’ll let you know.”
Hanging up the phone, Trowa cut off the entreaties, watching Duo’s face. It was disconcerting to realize at some point he had begun to rub the other man’s arm with his thumb, fingers loosely clasped around the end of the bandages. Not sure why he was unwilling to stop, he took Duo’s hand with his free one. “You concentrate on fighting your own demons, Duo. I’ll protect you here. No one will see you until you’re ready, okay?”
A fitful night of sleep left Trowa tired and worn. The entire night had been spent in the chair beside Duo’s bed rather than the cot, his hand clasping Duo’s. The nightmares had come and gone randomly, and he had tried to give Duo some reassurance to ease the American’s tortured soul. Duo had heard him at least twice, the other man listening intently to his words of encouragement and support, promising he would try to hang on. Trowa’s heart had clenched in sympathy as Duo had searched the darkness for the owner of the only kind voice within the others. Trowa’s breaking point had been when Duo had begged not to be left alone.
He had been so close to promising to stay but hadn’t, unwilling to lie to give peace of mind, assuming it would backfire on him in the worst way later. Fervently he had given the only vow he could honestly uphold, “I have to leave for a while, but I promise I’ll be back. I have to talk to Hilde.”
“She knows. It was Bo, but she knows.”
The sadness of Duo’s voice had him vowing to find out truth. “Is there anything else, Duo? Anyone else I need to talk to?” he had shouted over the constant rising of voices.
“Sweepers,” was the only reply he could hear that made sense, the word coming from Duo’s voice instead of the hundred others.
Unsure what to do now, Trowa planned to visit Hilde first, positive she was hiding something. He stood aside as the morning nurse came in to change Duo’s bandages, seeing the damage that had been done. Before they were rewrapped, he stepped forward and studied the long slits. Seeing his scrutiny, the nurse spoke in a soft tone, “He’s healing remarkably well, Mr. Barton. Dr. G has already scheduled another surgery for next week with the plastic surgeon. There won’t be any scarring by the time they’re done. It’ll be like your boyfriend never even hurt himself.”
Surprised at the observation, he hurriedly corrected her, “He’s a friend. We aren’t involved.”
Face flushing in embarrassment, the nurse concentrated on wrapping the gauze around Duo’s arms. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s obvious you care for him a great deal.”
“I didn’t…I don’t,” he stuttered, searching for what he wanted to say and sighing when he saw the protective posture he had taken without thinking, standing beside the bed, his hand resting on a bony shoulder. “We’re friends,” he repeated.
She gave him a quick glance through black bangs, “Are you friends because you want it to be that way, or because he does?”
“We’ve always just been friends,” he shrugged, uncomfortable with the questions.
Gathering her supplies, she threw the old bandages in a biohazard container. “I wish I had friends like you I could count on. I’ll be back in a few minutes with breakfast.”
“I’ll eat while I’m out. There are some things Duo left that need to be tied up. Is there any way to get a guard put back on the door while I’m gone? I don’t want anyone in this room without me being here.”
“That’s no problem. Is there anyone specific you would like?”
“See if James Fisher is available for a while. I trust him.”
“I believe he’s working today. I’ll give him a call for you. Will you be back by dinner or will you get something while you’re out, too?”
“I’ll be back by then.”
“If there’s anything else…”
He thought it over for a moment, “Actually, is there any way I can wash his hair tonight?”
“We can do that, Mr. Barton. You don’t need to worry.”
“I would like to do it myself, if that’s okay.” Duo’s reaction if he woke and found a stranger washing his hair could prove to be ugly.
“It’s no problem. After you come in, stop at the nurses’ station. I’ll leave everything you need there, shampoo, a comb and a water basin,” she clarified at his confused expression.
Deciding it wouldn’t take long to stop and get some supplies, he told her, “All I’ll need is the basin. I’ll get the other things on my own.”
Beaming a smile in his direction, she cast another glance at Duo, “I really do wish I had friends like you.”
Warnings: Located in the first part. Be sure to look or you might be surprised.
FIGHTING THE DARKNESS – PART 6
“Mr. Barton, I hate to bring this up at such a time for fear of sounding crass and uncaring, but it has been brought to our attention Mr. Maxwell has no insurance.”
Looking up from his computer, where he had been doing the search the doctor had suggested, Trowa stared at the man in the doorway for a few seconds, trying to decide what he should do. An answer came to him that seemed so perfect he almost smiled. “Let me make some phone calls. I’m sure I can arrange things to the hospital’s satisfaction.”
“I’ll come back in the morning, sir. There’s no rush, and we are taking a lot off the total bill in light of Mr. Maxwell’s service during the war, but we simply can’t help him for free.”
“I understand, and I’m sure Duo would, too. I thank you for your patience. I’ll make arrangements for his bills by tonight, for any he has or will incur until he recovers.”
The man hesitated, lowering his clipboard. “You realize he may never wake up, don’t you? The recovery rate for coma patients is very low, even under the best circumstances.”
“He’ll wake up,” Trowa said firmly, not willing to doubt.
Peering across the room to where Duo lay motionless, the man offered a small smile, “I hope so. He’s a great man. It would be a shame if he doesn’t wake up when we all owe him so much.”
The man left, closing the door behind him. Alone with Duo, Trowa leaned over, glancing at their clasped hands. “Did you hear that, Duo? He doesn’t think you’re worthless, or useless. He didn’t say you were a good man, but a great one. I’ve heard things like that since I began looking for you. Everyone here wants you to live. They all look up to you, just like I do.”
It had been two days since his arrival at the hospital; Trowa had spent all his time in the building. During the long hours of the day, he scoured the internet for occurrences like his and Duo’s, where one person was dreaming and another could enter the dream. He hadn’t found anything that said he should be able to talk to Duo, but continued to search. When he took breaks from that, he tried to find anything about Duo’s past, taking snippets of what he heard in dreams.
He had found his first clue when he had searched for any mention of a plague on the L2 colony, finally finding the information he needed and wondering how the thousands of deaths had been covered up when the plague had swept through the low-income colony. Nearly half the low-income population had been gone by the time the plague had finally died out, done running its course.
That had led to Duo’s brief mention of the people that had died at the church. It hadn’t taken long to connect the Maxwell church massacre with Duo – who had apparently taken the name in either memory or penance. Finding a photo of the aftermath, Trowa had clicked on it, only to gape at the small, forlorn figure of a child almost hidden in the shadows as people tried to put out the fire. Even in the black and white photo he could see the intensity of the wide eyes as they focused on the bodies being loaded into a coroner’s van.
Following Duo through the war had been easy enough, already knowing where to look. Even the first year after the end of the battles had information of Duo’s life, telling of his partnership in the salvage business and his seemingly perfect relationship with Hilde. The second year there had been fewer details, the former Gundam pilots being replaced with more recent news. There had been a short mention of the acts of charity Duo had made of both his time and money, mainly focusing on a new church being built under the name of the New Maxwell Church.
The information had been printed less than a month before Hilde had kicked him out. To learn of the woman’s deception right after construction of the church was completed had to be painful, and a second piece of the puzzle that had eventually combined to bring about Duo’s downfall.
Thinking of this, Trowa tightened his hand around Duo’s for a moment, reaching his other hand over to play with the strands of Duo’s much shorter hair. “What else happened to you, Duo? You were always so proud of your hair, what made you get so much of it cut off? You’ve always been one of the strongest people I know, and I didn’t think anything could drag you down this way. I’ve looked and looked, but I can’t find anything. Can you give me some clue to help you? Will Hilde know anything?”
The small squeeze of Duo’s hand had Trowa jerking in surprise, eyes flicking to the sleeping face for confirmation. Though there was nothing, he nodded, “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow, when that asshole isn’t around.” This time there was no imagining the way Duo’s eyes twitched under the close lids.
Withdrawing his hand, Trowa pulled out his cellphone before he forgot the call he needed to make, sneering as he saw several voicemails and messages that had been left in the last few days. Without the slightest bit of guilt, he erased them all, anger burning in his gut as he dialed.
“Trowa, are you all right? Why haven’t you called before this? We’ve all been so worried about you.”
“Sucks when your calls are ignored, doesn’t it, Quatre?”
“I believe you’ve made your point sufficiently, Trowa.” The blonde’s voice was less worried now, and more irritated, having realized Trowa wasn’t hurt or in danger. “I’m assuming you didn’t call just to chat.”
Just beginning to make his point, Trowa sat on the edge of Duo’s bed, fingers touching the white gauze carefully, “I need a favor.”
“All you had to do was ask. You know I’ll do anything to help you.”
Hands clenching around the phone, Trowa wondered why the same care hadn’t been offered to Duo. “I’m afraid I’ve racked up quite a bill here and there is no way I can pay for it.”
Quatre sounded baffled when he replied, but he didn’t hesitate, “Very well. Let me have the name of the business and I’ll settle the bill for you.”
Anticipating the reaction he was about to get, he lowered his voice slightly, “I’m at the Kerney Hospital on L2.”
“Oh my god. Are you okay? What happened? Why are you at the hospital?”
“The room is in Duo’s name, not mine. I’m here to see him.”
Silence filled the line for a long moment, Quatre finally asking softly, “Duo’s in the hospital?”
“He was brought in five days ago after trying to kill himself - a decision he made after calling you, Heero, and Wufei and getting no answer. You tell me, Quatre, have I sufficiently made my point about not returning phone calls?”
“It was one call, Trowa,” defended the blonde. “I wasn’t even home to get the message until later.”
At his wit’s end, Trowa allowed the anger he felt thread into his words, “It wasn’t the first call you ignored. I know you have your messages forwarded if your assistant believes they’re important. Mine are forwarded, as are Heero’s and Wufei’s. Why wasn’t Duo important enough to have his calls sent through to you? Have you really grown so careless and callous about someone that believed in you?”
“Trowa, I didn’t know!”
“How could you know? You didn’t care enough to know. One phone call was all it would have taken to help him. Five minutes of your precious time was all he needed.” The wrenching sobs did little to penetrate his anger.
“Can I speak to him?”
“He’s in a coma. He’s not able to speak to anyone.”
“I’ll come right away. If I leave tonight, I should be able to get there -”
“I don’t want you here,” Trowa interrupted coldly. “You didn’t have time for Duo before. You can’t make that up by being here now. Since you obviously have more money than time, you can take care of his bills at the hospital. I expect either Heero or Wufei to deal with his other expenses, from his rent to hiring someone to clean the bloodstains from his apartment.”
“Apartment? I thought he was living with Hilde.”
“He was until she kicked him out almost a year ago.”
“If I had known I would have called him. You have to believe me.”
The plea was met with doubt. “You wouldn’t even answer when he tried to call. How many times did you ignore his messages? Did you even listen to them before erasing them?” Silence met his last inquiry, giving him the answer. “How many calls did you ignore, Quatre? Five, ten, a dozen, a hundred?” At the soft sobs, Trowa looked at Duo’s face, so pale and gaunt. “You all owe him for more than you can repay, but we’ll start with his bills. Take care of them, Quatre. Give Heero and Wufei my instructions. I don’t want to see any of you here, not at all. When Duo wakes up, if he wants you here, I’ll let you know.”
Hanging up the phone, Trowa cut off the entreaties, watching Duo’s face. It was disconcerting to realize at some point he had begun to rub the other man’s arm with his thumb, fingers loosely clasped around the end of the bandages. Not sure why he was unwilling to stop, he took Duo’s hand with his free one. “You concentrate on fighting your own demons, Duo. I’ll protect you here. No one will see you until you’re ready, okay?”
A fitful night of sleep left Trowa tired and worn. The entire night had been spent in the chair beside Duo’s bed rather than the cot, his hand clasping Duo’s. The nightmares had come and gone randomly, and he had tried to give Duo some reassurance to ease the American’s tortured soul. Duo had heard him at least twice, the other man listening intently to his words of encouragement and support, promising he would try to hang on. Trowa’s heart had clenched in sympathy as Duo had searched the darkness for the owner of the only kind voice within the others. Trowa’s breaking point had been when Duo had begged not to be left alone.
He had been so close to promising to stay but hadn’t, unwilling to lie to give peace of mind, assuming it would backfire on him in the worst way later. Fervently he had given the only vow he could honestly uphold, “I have to leave for a while, but I promise I’ll be back. I have to talk to Hilde.”
“She knows. It was Bo, but she knows.”
The sadness of Duo’s voice had him vowing to find out truth. “Is there anything else, Duo? Anyone else I need to talk to?” he had shouted over the constant rising of voices.
“Sweepers,” was the only reply he could hear that made sense, the word coming from Duo’s voice instead of the hundred others.
Unsure what to do now, Trowa planned to visit Hilde first, positive she was hiding something. He stood aside as the morning nurse came in to change Duo’s bandages, seeing the damage that had been done. Before they were rewrapped, he stepped forward and studied the long slits. Seeing his scrutiny, the nurse spoke in a soft tone, “He’s healing remarkably well, Mr. Barton. Dr. G has already scheduled another surgery for next week with the plastic surgeon. There won’t be any scarring by the time they’re done. It’ll be like your boyfriend never even hurt himself.”
Surprised at the observation, he hurriedly corrected her, “He’s a friend. We aren’t involved.”
Face flushing in embarrassment, the nurse concentrated on wrapping the gauze around Duo’s arms. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s obvious you care for him a great deal.”
“I didn’t…I don’t,” he stuttered, searching for what he wanted to say and sighing when he saw the protective posture he had taken without thinking, standing beside the bed, his hand resting on a bony shoulder. “We’re friends,” he repeated.
She gave him a quick glance through black bangs, “Are you friends because you want it to be that way, or because he does?”
“We’ve always just been friends,” he shrugged, uncomfortable with the questions.
Gathering her supplies, she threw the old bandages in a biohazard container. “I wish I had friends like you I could count on. I’ll be back in a few minutes with breakfast.”
“I’ll eat while I’m out. There are some things Duo left that need to be tied up. Is there any way to get a guard put back on the door while I’m gone? I don’t want anyone in this room without me being here.”
“That’s no problem. Is there anyone specific you would like?”
“See if James Fisher is available for a while. I trust him.”
“I believe he’s working today. I’ll give him a call for you. Will you be back by dinner or will you get something while you’re out, too?”
“I’ll be back by then.”
“If there’s anything else…”
He thought it over for a moment, “Actually, is there any way I can wash his hair tonight?”
“We can do that, Mr. Barton. You don’t need to worry.”
“I would like to do it myself, if that’s okay.” Duo’s reaction if he woke and found a stranger washing his hair could prove to be ugly.
“It’s no problem. After you come in, stop at the nurses’ station. I’ll leave everything you need there, shampoo, a comb and a water basin,” she clarified at his confused expression.
Deciding it wouldn’t take long to stop and get some supplies, he told her, “All I’ll need is the basin. I’ll get the other things on my own.”
Beaming a smile in his direction, she cast another glance at Duo, “I really do wish I had friends like you.”