Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting the Darkness ❯ Chapter 8
[ 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: 06.24.2012 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 310 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Supernatural / Thriller / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 06.24.2012 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 310 | 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 8
Stopping outside the locked ward, he checked the contents of his bags, hoping he had gotten everything he needed. Eager to see that his own bag had remained untouched in its hiding place, he pressed the buzzer, nodding to the nurse when she came to the glass. Not recognizing her, he held up his badge to the window, frowning when she smiled and opened the door for him without question.
A bit older than the nurses he had seen so far, she extended her hand after closing the door, her face matronly. “Do you need some help with those? You seem to have done quite a bit of shopping today.”
“No, but one of the morning nurses said she would leave a water basin at the desk so I can wash Duo’s hair,” he said softly, gripping the handles of the bags tightly.
“You know we have shampoo here.”
Seeing her peek into one of the bags he felt his face flame, “Duo has always been very particular about his hair. Knowing a generic product was being used on it would probably make him have a heart attack.”
With a kind smile, the nurse began to lead the way to the nurses’ station, “Mary, the morning nurse, got your basin and ordered dinner for you. She also left strict instructions we were not to wash Mr. Maxwell’s hair. We weren’t sure if it was just his hair you wanted to wash, so we didn’t give him a sponge bath either. Would you like one of us to do that after you finish his hair?”
There could have been many reasons for his throat to clench shut, but he went with the thought of how Duo would feel to have someone’s hands on him that he didn’t know. Swallowing hard, he shook his head, “I’ll take care of it after dinner.”
After getting the basin and speaking to James for a few minutes, thanking the guard for watching over Duo while he was gone, Trowa quickly stored the items he had bought, taking only a moment to make sure his bag hadn’t been tampered with before crossing to Duo’s bed. Seeing the frail body tensed, he took the limp hand in his own, unaware he was smiling as Duo relaxed. He was aware the nurses wouldn’t have seen how tense Duo had been – it had been such a small sign – but he felt that meant the unconscious man was closer to breaking through the bonds that tethered him in his own mind. “It won’t be long before you come back, Duo. You’re already so much stronger. I’ll be with you tonight to help. I’m sorry it took me so long today. I ran into some…unexpected complications.”
Instead of going into details, he picked up the book he had sat on the bed, one he had bought. “I’ll tell you about my day later, once I’m sure we won’t be disturbed. For now, I’m going to read to you, I hope you don’t mind. I know you liked to read during the war, and I saw you with this book once. You told Heero it was your favorite.” With one hand holding Duo’s he began to softly read Where the Red Fern Grows, hoping the slight clenching on his hand meant Duo could hear.
The soft knock had him pausing, nodding as the nurse came in holding his dinner. “Just so you know, Mr. Barton, my name is Ellen. I’m the shift nurse on duty this week. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you today.”
Not sure what to make of the statement, he kept quiet as Ellen placed his dinner on the small rolling table beside the bed. “Do you need a towel for his washing? We have some, but they are rather small. I’m afraid Mr. Maxwell’s hair might be too much for one of them, but I might be able to find a larger one.”
“I bought one.” Trowa’s eyes lingered over the mid-length hair, “You should have seen his hair before. It was much longer.”
Lifting her eyebrows, she smiled warmly, “It must have been beautiful.”
“It was,” he admitted, then blushed, stunned at himself. “As far as towels go, he likes really fluffy ones, so I got one of those.”
“I did bring a sponge and some soap that’s gentle, unless you thought of that, as well.” When he turned an even darker red, she laughed in delight. “Mr. Maxwell is a very lucky man.”
Recalling where Duo’s last name had come from, Trowa discovered he couldn’t bear to hear it said constantly. “Duo, not Mr. Maxwell. He might respond better if he hears his name. Why is he lucky?”
“To have someone care for him so much, of course,” Ellen remarked as she checked Duo’s vital signs, then his fluids, making a note on a pad of paper before tucking it into her pocket. “It’s a nice thing to see around here. Most of the other patients in this ward haven’t had visitors in a long time.”
He had never seen anyone in the ward that wasn’t staff, but had paid little attention, most of his focus on Duo. “Why not?”
“Most of their family and friends gave up hope and stopped coming.” Grey eyes wizened with age looked at him, “How long will you be here before giving up hope, Mr. Barton? A week, a month, a year?”
“I’m not leaving. Not until he can go with me.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Trowa blinked in surprise. He hadn’t considered what would happen when Duo regained consciousness, realizing suddenly he meant exactly what he had said. “I don’t have hope. I don’t have to.”
“You have to have something to hold onto, Mr. Barton, or all is lost.” She turned her eyes to Duo sadly, head jerking when Trowa spoke fiercely, squeezing Duo’s hand in his.
“I have faith in him. Hope is for the foolish, but I do have faith. Duo’s stronger than this, and he gets stronger with every minute he holds on. That’s what I’ll hold on to.”
Smiling at him strangely, she patted his hand where it gripped Duo’s. “Perhaps that will be enough. Call for me if you need help bathing him.”
Done eating, Trowa dug his computer out of his bag and perched on the side of the bed, where his side was in contact with Duo’s legs. Opening his email, he sighed, “They really don’t get the hint, to they?” he asked aloud after seeing the numerous messages sent by the former pilots, all demanding answers.
Deleting them without reading them, he focused on the two pieces of mail he thought important. Hilde had sent him a long list of names to check out, promising to get the rest to him the next day. Already used to filling the silence, he shook his head as the saved the list so he could do an in-depth search on the names later. “I don’t know how you managed to live with that woman for two years. I can’t decide if she’s as stupid as she seems, or just so naïve it’s pathetic. I can’t forget how dedicated she was to you during the war – she did take a large risk on your behalf – but that can’t make up for her being so petty.” Duo’s leg twitched and he let his hand rest there for a moment, kneading the muscle to help. “Maybe you think I’m being too harsh. Maybe I am, but she knew you were going to be hurt and did nothing to stop it. All it would have taken was a phone call to warn you.”
Trowa frowned when he saw the clenched jaw muscles. Taking a guess at the cause, he ran a hand over Duo’s forehead before returning it to the stiff calf muscle, “I won’t hurt her, Duo. I didn’t hurt her, thought I wanted to. I wanted to kill her. I killed before the war, you know. You find ways to survive, even if that means taking another life. I’ve hurt people that wanted to hurt me, but I didn’t want to. It was necessary.” With a sigh, he threaded his fingers with Duo’s lax ones, eyes moving to the crisp white bandages. “I wanted to hurt her, could imagine cutting her and feeling no remorse. I’ve been called cold and heartless. Today was the first time I ever thought of killing and enjoyed the idea. I’m not cold, Duo. I’m not,” he insisted, trying to convince both himself and the unconscious man. “I don’t feel things strongly, but I do feel them. I was…mad she let you be hurt and wanted her to pay for that. I didn’t hurt her because I didn’t think you would want me to. You already knew what she had done – or not done, I suppose – and you did nothing to her. I can accept that. I don’t understand it, but I can accept it. The men that hurt you are an entirely different matter. They will pay for what they did, I swear. Whether they die is something you need to decide, so you have to tell me what you want.”
Dropping the topic for the moment, Trowa opened the mail Une had sent. With Noin’s help, she had found several numbers for different members of the Sweeper’s crew, including the one Trowa felt most important. “Duo, I need to make a call. I don’t know if you want me to do that here, or go away. I’m calling Howard,” he added, unsurprised when Duo’s fingers clenched his tightly. “I guess that means you want me to stay.”
The number only took seconds to dial, and much longer to get an answer. He was about to hang up when a gruff voice answered, thick with sleep. “Whaddya want? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
Glancing at his watch, Trowa lifted his brows, “Eight-thirty.”
“More like two-thirty in the damn morning. This better be good.”
“I didn’t realize it was so late wherever you are, but I would have called anyway. I don’t know if you remember me, but I worked with Duo during the war. My name is Trowa Barton.”
Howard suddenly sounded wide awake, “I remember you. What’s wrong with my boy?”
The abrupt change of attitude had Trowa fumbling for a second, finally managing, “I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t have to beg me for anything. We barely know each other, Trowa. I’ve only met you a handful of times. Since it’s insane to assume you’re calling to chat, I think of one thing we have in common. What’s wrong with my boy?”
Baffled by the strange man, Trowa shook his head. It was only a guess Howard was referring to Duo, so he considered a way to tell the man of ‘his boy’s’ condition. “He’s in a coma,” he admitted eventually, finding no other way to say it.
“Where you at?”
“L2. Kerney Hospital.”
“Shit. It’ll take me three days to get there. I’m docked just on the other side of L4. What put Duo in a coma?”
“He did.”
A snort of derision came clearly over the line, “Don’t give me that crap. Duo doesn’t do drugs and he doesn’t have a drinking problem.”
“He…used a knife. On himself.”
“What did that bitch do to him now?”
“I don’t think Hilde’s done anything to him lately. They no longer live together.”
During the sporadic times he had been around Howard, Trowa had seen him worried, serious, and joking. Now he was able to hear the other man very, very mad. “I’ve been leaving messages with that…bimbo for months. Last time Duo heard from me was before I took on a dangerous job that went a bit awry. If he hasn’t gotten my messages, he probably thinks I’m dead, damnit.”
Having another thing to hold against the raven-haired female, Trowa felt acid churning in his belly. Because of Hilde’s hurt feelings she had failed to deliver an extremely important message. “I promised Duo I wouldn’t kill her,” he confessed flatly, not caring if Howard thought him insane for talking to the comatose man.
“I didn’t make a promise. It would hurt Duo, so I’ll let it go for now. Are you with him?”
“Right beside him.” It wasn’t necessary to say he was sitting on Duo’s bed.
“This might be a little weird,” Howard paused. “Can you put the phone up to his ear and give me three or four minutes? He might be able to hear me.”
Thinking of his own sojourns into Duo’s mind, Trowa smiled, “That doesn’t sound weird to me at all. I’ll hold the phone so he can hear, starting now.”
Holding the phone to Duo’s ear, Trowa kept an eye on the clock, letting the older man have a total of four and a half minutes to make his point. Removing the phone, he put it to his own ear, “I’m here, Howard.”
“Okay, okay,” the other man sounded like he was trying to catch his breath. “I’m gonna be on my way as soon as I can. You’ll stay with him, right, Trowa?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Trowa stated. Looking up he caught his own reflection in the mirror, shocked by the determination that lit his eyes.
“Do you think he heard me?” Howard asked, pulling his attention to Duo, more than happy to look away from his visage in the mirror. What he saw on the American’s face had him jerking so hard he nearly knocked his computer off the bed.
“He heard you,” he whispered, awed.
“How do you know?”
Holding the phone between his shoulder and ear, Trowa touched Duo’s cheek lightly with his fingertips, gathering the single tear that had fallen. “I just know.”
Warnings: Located in the first part. Be sure to look or you might be surprised.
FIGHTING THE DARKNESS – PART 8
Stopping outside the locked ward, he checked the contents of his bags, hoping he had gotten everything he needed. Eager to see that his own bag had remained untouched in its hiding place, he pressed the buzzer, nodding to the nurse when she came to the glass. Not recognizing her, he held up his badge to the window, frowning when she smiled and opened the door for him without question.
A bit older than the nurses he had seen so far, she extended her hand after closing the door, her face matronly. “Do you need some help with those? You seem to have done quite a bit of shopping today.”
“No, but one of the morning nurses said she would leave a water basin at the desk so I can wash Duo’s hair,” he said softly, gripping the handles of the bags tightly.
“You know we have shampoo here.”
Seeing her peek into one of the bags he felt his face flame, “Duo has always been very particular about his hair. Knowing a generic product was being used on it would probably make him have a heart attack.”
With a kind smile, the nurse began to lead the way to the nurses’ station, “Mary, the morning nurse, got your basin and ordered dinner for you. She also left strict instructions we were not to wash Mr. Maxwell’s hair. We weren’t sure if it was just his hair you wanted to wash, so we didn’t give him a sponge bath either. Would you like one of us to do that after you finish his hair?”
There could have been many reasons for his throat to clench shut, but he went with the thought of how Duo would feel to have someone’s hands on him that he didn’t know. Swallowing hard, he shook his head, “I’ll take care of it after dinner.”
After getting the basin and speaking to James for a few minutes, thanking the guard for watching over Duo while he was gone, Trowa quickly stored the items he had bought, taking only a moment to make sure his bag hadn’t been tampered with before crossing to Duo’s bed. Seeing the frail body tensed, he took the limp hand in his own, unaware he was smiling as Duo relaxed. He was aware the nurses wouldn’t have seen how tense Duo had been – it had been such a small sign – but he felt that meant the unconscious man was closer to breaking through the bonds that tethered him in his own mind. “It won’t be long before you come back, Duo. You’re already so much stronger. I’ll be with you tonight to help. I’m sorry it took me so long today. I ran into some…unexpected complications.”
Instead of going into details, he picked up the book he had sat on the bed, one he had bought. “I’ll tell you about my day later, once I’m sure we won’t be disturbed. For now, I’m going to read to you, I hope you don’t mind. I know you liked to read during the war, and I saw you with this book once. You told Heero it was your favorite.” With one hand holding Duo’s he began to softly read Where the Red Fern Grows, hoping the slight clenching on his hand meant Duo could hear.
The soft knock had him pausing, nodding as the nurse came in holding his dinner. “Just so you know, Mr. Barton, my name is Ellen. I’m the shift nurse on duty this week. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you today.”
Not sure what to make of the statement, he kept quiet as Ellen placed his dinner on the small rolling table beside the bed. “Do you need a towel for his washing? We have some, but they are rather small. I’m afraid Mr. Maxwell’s hair might be too much for one of them, but I might be able to find a larger one.”
“I bought one.” Trowa’s eyes lingered over the mid-length hair, “You should have seen his hair before. It was much longer.”
Lifting her eyebrows, she smiled warmly, “It must have been beautiful.”
“It was,” he admitted, then blushed, stunned at himself. “As far as towels go, he likes really fluffy ones, so I got one of those.”
“I did bring a sponge and some soap that’s gentle, unless you thought of that, as well.” When he turned an even darker red, she laughed in delight. “Mr. Maxwell is a very lucky man.”
Recalling where Duo’s last name had come from, Trowa discovered he couldn’t bear to hear it said constantly. “Duo, not Mr. Maxwell. He might respond better if he hears his name. Why is he lucky?”
“To have someone care for him so much, of course,” Ellen remarked as she checked Duo’s vital signs, then his fluids, making a note on a pad of paper before tucking it into her pocket. “It’s a nice thing to see around here. Most of the other patients in this ward haven’t had visitors in a long time.”
He had never seen anyone in the ward that wasn’t staff, but had paid little attention, most of his focus on Duo. “Why not?”
“Most of their family and friends gave up hope and stopped coming.” Grey eyes wizened with age looked at him, “How long will you be here before giving up hope, Mr. Barton? A week, a month, a year?”
“I’m not leaving. Not until he can go with me.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Trowa blinked in surprise. He hadn’t considered what would happen when Duo regained consciousness, realizing suddenly he meant exactly what he had said. “I don’t have hope. I don’t have to.”
“You have to have something to hold onto, Mr. Barton, or all is lost.” She turned her eyes to Duo sadly, head jerking when Trowa spoke fiercely, squeezing Duo’s hand in his.
“I have faith in him. Hope is for the foolish, but I do have faith. Duo’s stronger than this, and he gets stronger with every minute he holds on. That’s what I’ll hold on to.”
Smiling at him strangely, she patted his hand where it gripped Duo’s. “Perhaps that will be enough. Call for me if you need help bathing him.”
Done eating, Trowa dug his computer out of his bag and perched on the side of the bed, where his side was in contact with Duo’s legs. Opening his email, he sighed, “They really don’t get the hint, to they?” he asked aloud after seeing the numerous messages sent by the former pilots, all demanding answers.
Deleting them without reading them, he focused on the two pieces of mail he thought important. Hilde had sent him a long list of names to check out, promising to get the rest to him the next day. Already used to filling the silence, he shook his head as the saved the list so he could do an in-depth search on the names later. “I don’t know how you managed to live with that woman for two years. I can’t decide if she’s as stupid as she seems, or just so naïve it’s pathetic. I can’t forget how dedicated she was to you during the war – she did take a large risk on your behalf – but that can’t make up for her being so petty.” Duo’s leg twitched and he let his hand rest there for a moment, kneading the muscle to help. “Maybe you think I’m being too harsh. Maybe I am, but she knew you were going to be hurt and did nothing to stop it. All it would have taken was a phone call to warn you.”
Trowa frowned when he saw the clenched jaw muscles. Taking a guess at the cause, he ran a hand over Duo’s forehead before returning it to the stiff calf muscle, “I won’t hurt her, Duo. I didn’t hurt her, thought I wanted to. I wanted to kill her. I killed before the war, you know. You find ways to survive, even if that means taking another life. I’ve hurt people that wanted to hurt me, but I didn’t want to. It was necessary.” With a sigh, he threaded his fingers with Duo’s lax ones, eyes moving to the crisp white bandages. “I wanted to hurt her, could imagine cutting her and feeling no remorse. I’ve been called cold and heartless. Today was the first time I ever thought of killing and enjoyed the idea. I’m not cold, Duo. I’m not,” he insisted, trying to convince both himself and the unconscious man. “I don’t feel things strongly, but I do feel them. I was…mad she let you be hurt and wanted her to pay for that. I didn’t hurt her because I didn’t think you would want me to. You already knew what she had done – or not done, I suppose – and you did nothing to her. I can accept that. I don’t understand it, but I can accept it. The men that hurt you are an entirely different matter. They will pay for what they did, I swear. Whether they die is something you need to decide, so you have to tell me what you want.”
Dropping the topic for the moment, Trowa opened the mail Une had sent. With Noin’s help, she had found several numbers for different members of the Sweeper’s crew, including the one Trowa felt most important. “Duo, I need to make a call. I don’t know if you want me to do that here, or go away. I’m calling Howard,” he added, unsurprised when Duo’s fingers clenched his tightly. “I guess that means you want me to stay.”
The number only took seconds to dial, and much longer to get an answer. He was about to hang up when a gruff voice answered, thick with sleep. “Whaddya want? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
Glancing at his watch, Trowa lifted his brows, “Eight-thirty.”
“More like two-thirty in the damn morning. This better be good.”
“I didn’t realize it was so late wherever you are, but I would have called anyway. I don’t know if you remember me, but I worked with Duo during the war. My name is Trowa Barton.”
Howard suddenly sounded wide awake, “I remember you. What’s wrong with my boy?”
The abrupt change of attitude had Trowa fumbling for a second, finally managing, “I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t have to beg me for anything. We barely know each other, Trowa. I’ve only met you a handful of times. Since it’s insane to assume you’re calling to chat, I think of one thing we have in common. What’s wrong with my boy?”
Baffled by the strange man, Trowa shook his head. It was only a guess Howard was referring to Duo, so he considered a way to tell the man of ‘his boy’s’ condition. “He’s in a coma,” he admitted eventually, finding no other way to say it.
“Where you at?”
“L2. Kerney Hospital.”
“Shit. It’ll take me three days to get there. I’m docked just on the other side of L4. What put Duo in a coma?”
“He did.”
A snort of derision came clearly over the line, “Don’t give me that crap. Duo doesn’t do drugs and he doesn’t have a drinking problem.”
“He…used a knife. On himself.”
“What did that bitch do to him now?”
“I don’t think Hilde’s done anything to him lately. They no longer live together.”
During the sporadic times he had been around Howard, Trowa had seen him worried, serious, and joking. Now he was able to hear the other man very, very mad. “I’ve been leaving messages with that…bimbo for months. Last time Duo heard from me was before I took on a dangerous job that went a bit awry. If he hasn’t gotten my messages, he probably thinks I’m dead, damnit.”
Having another thing to hold against the raven-haired female, Trowa felt acid churning in his belly. Because of Hilde’s hurt feelings she had failed to deliver an extremely important message. “I promised Duo I wouldn’t kill her,” he confessed flatly, not caring if Howard thought him insane for talking to the comatose man.
“I didn’t make a promise. It would hurt Duo, so I’ll let it go for now. Are you with him?”
“Right beside him.” It wasn’t necessary to say he was sitting on Duo’s bed.
“This might be a little weird,” Howard paused. “Can you put the phone up to his ear and give me three or four minutes? He might be able to hear me.”
Thinking of his own sojourns into Duo’s mind, Trowa smiled, “That doesn’t sound weird to me at all. I’ll hold the phone so he can hear, starting now.”
Holding the phone to Duo’s ear, Trowa kept an eye on the clock, letting the older man have a total of four and a half minutes to make his point. Removing the phone, he put it to his own ear, “I’m here, Howard.”
“Okay, okay,” the other man sounded like he was trying to catch his breath. “I’m gonna be on my way as soon as I can. You’ll stay with him, right, Trowa?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Trowa stated. Looking up he caught his own reflection in the mirror, shocked by the determination that lit his eyes.
“Do you think he heard me?” Howard asked, pulling his attention to Duo, more than happy to look away from his visage in the mirror. What he saw on the American’s face had him jerking so hard he nearly knocked his computer off the bed.
“He heard you,” he whispered, awed.
“How do you know?”
Holding the phone between his shoulder and ear, Trowa touched Duo’s cheek lightly with his fingertips, gathering the single tear that had fallen. “I just know.”