Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Otome ❯ Price Of Living ( Chapter 3 )

I uh, Do not own Gundam Wing. If I did I probably would not be here and instead living in a mansion on my own private island.

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The braided boy sighed, impatiently tapping a nearby table as the phone rang. So far he had gotten through three secretaries, five offices, some airhead of an employee and some punk who didn't feel it important to bother the head of the Winner organization with some scrap guy from L2. He sighed in near relief when the phone finally picked up. "Quatre! Finally I've been..."

"May I help you?"

He winced, that same annoying voice belonging to the first secretary. He swore he would throttle every single person who had kept him waiting if only to ease his growing frustration. Through a forced smile he relayed his request for the second time. "I'd like to speak to Quatre Winner."

"I'm sorry sir but Mr. Winner is.."

"I don't care what he's doing! Look, just tell him Duo Maxwell is on the line."

"I'm sorry sir but.."

"Don't tell me your sorry! This is a matter of life and death! Get me Quatre Winner."

"Sir you can't just..."

"I have a bomb."

"Sir?"

"I said I have a bomb and I need to speak to Quatre Winner right now."

There was a long pause. Finally the gentle voice of the blonde Arabian entered the line. "Hello?"

Duo smiled. "Quatre! You have no idea how hard it is to contact you."

"Duo, the secretary said you had a bomb."

Duo shrugged. "Yea well I probably have a few left over from the war."

"Duo!"

"What? It was a salvage operation!"

Quatre sighed. "Okay, will you mind telling me what was worth threatening the staff for?"

"I need your help Quatre."

"What for? is something wrong? Is Hilde alright?"

"She's fine." Gradually he began to relate the story about the girl he had found.

"That's terrible Duo, they won't treat her?"

"Well apparently the satisfaction of giving someone life isn't enough when there's money involved. Quatre she's going to die if they kick her out now."

"Okay, I'll have the money wired."

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Minerva turned her head to stare out the window. Wouldn't be long now and she would be gone again. Funny, she didn't think you could die twice. But she had never died before either.

Her gaze went back to the food tubes, it was sad really. She thought she'd be safe here, someone actually cared if she lived or died. Sally was right, she was delusional. Better not have them waste any more energy on her if they were just going to kick her out anyway. She closed her hand around the tubes and pulled. She smiled, laying back in the pillow. Goodbye again.

Duo and Sally both came rushing into the room almost immediately. Sally stuck the tubes back in while Duo seemed to inventing brand new swear words. Why did they care? She was being kicked out anyway, it didn't matter if she lived or died. These people didn't give up easily.

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She woke up again later, it was hard to tell what time of day it was, drifting in and out of sleep. Her head still hurt, but the medication being fed to her through tubes seemed to ease most of the pain. Slowly she opened her eyes, surprised to see the braided pilot in a chair next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you don't go suicidal again." He smiled. "I went through a lot of effort to keep you on the patient list. I'll be damned if Quatre wastes his money."

"Quatre?"

"Your benefactor. If that guy's heart gets any bigger he's going to crowd himself out of his mansion."

"You shouldn't be doing favors for me. I can't pay you back."

"What makes you think you owe us anything? You remind me of a friend of mine. Always waiting to die."

"Heero."

He blinked in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"...I guessed."

"Yea well, I'll be damned if I let you die on me. War has killed enough people already."

She nodded and gave way to a fit of coughs. She swore the noise had to be breaking some kind of record. She collapsed back in bed moaning as she rubbed her chest, trying to suppress another fit of coughs. Her chest burned as she was forced to release that too, another fit of coughs sounding through the hospital. She became vaguely aware of the hand that settled beneath her head as another began to rub her chest gently, seeming to ease the pain. Gradually she began to relax again.

She smiled weakly as the drugs began to take effect. "Thank you."

"Yea, just get some rest."

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Minerva stared out the window. The holographic atmosphere was so beautiful, it looked real. She wondered for a moment if there were birds here. She hadn't seen any.

"Hello!"

Minerva turned her head to the door, Duo was smiling, standing in the doorway. In his hand was a bouquet of yellow flowers. He walked up to her and bowed with a flourish, presenting the flowers. "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful patient. Even if you do have bed hair."

She smiled, accepting the flowers. "They're pretty, where did you get them?"

"Compliments of Hilde."

She smelled the flowers, smiling as she clutched them close then coughed harshly. Duo frowned. "You still have a cough."

"But it's not so bad anymore. The doctors said I can leave in a week." She frowned.

Duo noticed her disappointment and sat down. "Hey I thought you'd be thrilled."

"I'll have to go back to the streets."

"Your not gonna go suicide on me again are you?"

She frowned, not wanting to look Duo in the eye. Duo frowned at the girl. "Minerva? Look at me."

Minerva sighed, forcing herself to look into those indigo eyes. "If you don't want me to..."

He grinned. "Good enough. No Minerva, I don't want you to die. I'll figure something out. You just get better."

She nodded and Duo smiled standing and slipping out the door. He made a brisk walk down the hallway. He turned a corner, passing the other rooms and front desk before entering the lounge. Tossing a coin out of his pocket and into his hand he dropped it into the vending machine, pressing the button. He waited a good number of seconds and pressed the button again. After another couple seconds he stepped back and kicked his leg forward, denting the machine with a loud bang to everyone's surprise. Smiling Duo reached down and grabbed the can of soda, popping the top to take a drink.

"You could have informed the staff Duo."

Duo turned around, smiling at Sally. "Eh, I didn't want to trouble them."

Sally Po folded her arms. "Indeed. Hows our patient?"

"Minerva? She's recovering. Say Sally, you got some room in your apartment don't ya?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well she's being released in a week and..."

"Stop there. I don't have the time or the money."

"Hey we'll get a her a job, she'll pay for herself."

"No Duo."

Duo frowned and then just shrugged. "Okay, I'll call Hilde."

"What for?"

He picked up the phone, starting to dial. "Well she has to set up an extra room."

"Hilde will kill you."

Duo smiled. "Hey, she didn't kill me when I got a dog."

"I think a human is very different. What ever happened to that dog anyway?"

"Oh, I had to get rid of him when he started destroying Hilde's bras."

He grinned at Sally, waiting near the wall when the Hilde finally picked up. "Hey Hilde!...Yea...listen we're going to have a house guest for a few days..."

Sally caught Duo wince then nod. "Thanks." He hung up the phone.

"How did she take it?"

"Rather well. I'll only be sleeping on the couch for a few months."

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