Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ❯ Part Three ( Chapter 3 )

Part Three

"Hey!" Duo cried, running over to Quatre and catching him before he fell to the ground. "Hey, man, are you okay?"

Quatre looked up at the braided boy and gave him a weak smile. "I'll be fine.... Just a little faint...."

"Hey, that's not good.... Come on. Let me help you." Duo took his lunch from him and wrapped one of his arms around his shoulder and let Quatre lean solely on him as he walked his friend over to a huge tree in the courtyard.

Quatre was never and would never be a very big or heavy man and the fact that he seemed to keep getting lighter and lighter scared Duo.

"There ya go...." Carefully, Duo helped him down and he rested gratefully against the tree.

"Thank you," he spoke softly and Duo noticed all the fresh bandages covering his body.

"What did they do to you?" he asked, nibbling at his lower lip, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes. He was so afraid that one day they would work him to the limit. One day he thought that they might do it and beat the very last thread of life out of him.

"Ah.... You know.... The usual...." Quatre replied lightly, as if it hurt for him to speak above a whisper.

"What did they do, Quatre? What? And who did it? I swear to the Divine I will make their sorry ass burn in Darkness forever. I'll make them pay.... I'll find out how to get these fucking Bands off and I'll kill him!"

Quatre returned Duo's speech with a small, weary smile. "No.... No one deserves that.... Duo...." Opening his mouth slightly wider, the other boy yawned and let his head fall against Duo's shoulder. "I'm tired.... I'm so tired, sometimes...."

Duo scrubbed the tears out his eyes with the back of his hand and hugged Quatre to his chest, unashamed of his bold actions in the middle of the Luncheon Court Yard.

"You're so warm, Duo.... So warm and full of life...." Quatre whispered with a light smile across his face. "You're Spirit.... I can feel it even with the Bands...."

"Shut up!" Duo cried, wanting to smack his best friend. "Stop saying things like that!"

Heero looked over the two boys, huddled together, the braided one, Duo, sobbing into the blond one's hair. The blond one just rested a hand on his shoulder and pet it gently, resting his head on his chest.

Heero smirked. The bond between these two was very strong....

A third joined their party, resting a hand on the blonde's shoulder and stroked his back, whispering as Duo tried to stop crying.

Then, another joined them, standing by the tree and looking down on the spectacle, parting his mouth to comment here and there.

Things would certainly get interesting between these four and him....

~~~

Duo hoped today would be a repeat of last night.

Last night they said not word one to each other, and Duo was extremely pleased with that turn of events. He was hoping for an encore.

No such luck.

"I saw you with your friends today," he uttered as Duo made to turn out the lamp.

"Yeah, what's your fucking point? Don't mess with me, okay. Today is *not* the day," Duo warned and Heero smirked.

"Okay."

Duo turned to look at the other boy in shock. He agreed that easily?

"I know what happened anyway."

"Look! Shut the fuck up! It's upsetting for me!"

"Oh, I can understand how it would be."

"Well, yeah! When you're best friend is raped for telling the truth--! Quatre's the only person I care about, the only friend I have, it's just a *little* upsetting! I don't want him to *die*!"

Heero grinned. "I wouldn't know."

"Well, no wonder. I don't see how someone like you could have *any* friends," Duo hissed, realizing how he had tricked him into saying what was wrong with Quatre.

As he clicked off the light and settled roughly into bed, he had no idea how much his words had affected Heero.

Never in his life had he had a friend. He wasn't blind to it. He knew people didn't like him.

Was what Duo said...true?

Would he never have...a friend?

~~~

The faint sound of a music box played in the background as Duo turned circles in the library.

He felt so small.... The shelves towered over him ominously as the music continued the play, filling the air with a haunted feeling.

The click of the piano and the plucking of strings as the he slowly turned circles.... Staring up at the ceiling....

Something was there.... Something was calling for him....

What was it...?

He stopped and looked down the rows of books.

It was so dark. No lights.... Just the faint trails of moonlight sneaking in through the windows and lighting a path down the rows of books....

Everything seemed to be tinged in blue as he slowly made his way down them. He didn't look to the sides, just straight foreword.

Something was there.... Something was calling to him....

Something wanted him to find it.

'What are you?' he asked silently, but even his thoughts seemed too loud in the dead silence of the halls.

He came to a door that was never there before. He just noticed it.

Across the top were markings....

H'sung.

Reaching out hesitantly like a small child, he touched them and traced them with his fingers.

'The Secret Lies Within'

His fingers brushed the door lightly and it slid in.

Tilting his head he looked at the small entrance, which seemed only a child could fit in.

On the inside curve of the door was more H'sung.

His fingers moved deafly over them as he read.

'The Secret Lies Within - You Are Getting Closer'

Carefully he stepped inside, curiosity taking hold of him.

Down the impossibly small halls he crawled. Cobwebs caught in his face and he preferred not to think about what he could be touching as he made his way.

Stranger yet, at the end of the hall, there was a light. He saw it.

Light....

Suddenly he was enveloped in the golden substance as he stepped out into a room with a fire blazing in the middle. A gigantic candle on a steel stand, a podium placed right in front of the structure with a book sitting on top of it.

Across the wall in huge letters was engraved: 'The Secret Lies Within - You Have Found The Book - Find The Secret - You Are Getting Closer'

Stepping foreword he found himself staring down on the cover of the book.

The brown book was bound in what looked like to be the hid of some animal and thick silver holding it together with three huge nails.

Grasping fingers and inquisitive eyes died to see what was beyond the cover, but as he reached out to touch it, everything around him scattered into black and he sat ridged in bed, sweat soaking his entire body and the blankets and the pillow.

He realized his breathing was much more heavy than usual as he wiped his brow and leaned against the headboard.

He glanced over at Heero, who was still resting in deep sleep.

Vaguely he wondered what time it was.

He wondered what time it was and what the dream had meant, if anything.

It felt so real....

'The Secret Lies Within - You Have Found The Book - Find The Secret - You Are Getting Closer'

What did it mean...?

The book....

The Secret Lies Within.... You Are Getting Closer....

Duo didn't know much about Visions, but he did know that it was usually people with the Spirit Art that were plagued by them, not Wind. What was he doing with a Vision?

Was it even that, or was it really just a longing to finish the story he started in the library?

No.... It felt so real.... He could feel his hair stand on end when he heard the music.... He could feel the cobwebs on his face.... He could feel the dank, clamminess of the hall.... The fear that had seized him when he walked down the rows of books.... The moonlight as it fell upon the floor.... The dust that caught in it.... The texture of the wood of the door.... The H'sung markings....

How could it have all just been a dream?

And what if it was more than just a dream?

What if.... What if it was truly a Vision...?

~~~

"Hey Quatre.... How are you doing today?" Duo asked, trying to be cheery.

"Better than before, if that is what you mean," Quatre replied lightly. He was doing a little better. He sounded almost like his normal self and it didn't sound like it hurt him to breath like the day before.

"Have you.... Have you ever had a Vision?"

Quatre was silent at his friend's question.

"Yes," he replied quietly.

"What was it like?"

"Well.... It was very real. I felt like I was there. Like I was touching things. It scared me the first time because there was lots of fire and it felt so real.... I felt like I was really being burned alive."

Duo's eyes shot open. "You were being burned?! Don't Visions have an almost direct affect on what will happen in this world?"

Quatre giggled a little. "Visions are funny, in a way. Not always is it exactly what you are expecting. I had that one a while back. You remember. When I was still Single Band and must've been...eleven.... They put me against an angry Fire Artist and let me see if I could sooth his emotions. I couldn't and he burned me up real bad. You remember that right? Well, that was what the Vision portrayed."

Duo heaved a great sigh of relief. "Thank the Divine...."

"But why do you ask?"

"I.... I think I had a Vision last night. I know that normally it only happens with Spirit Artists, but it was so deadly real.... I thought I was living it.... Everything I touched I can still feel...."

"Well, when you have enough of them, you kind of see a pattern in what a Vision is and what one isn't. All my visions have something in common. In all my visions, everything seems to be one color, if that makes sense. Everything in shades of blue or red or yellow.... Whatever has to do with that room or a color that represents an emotion I am feeling. Something like that. But things like these are hard to pick up on unless you have consecutive Visions. Often times you forget minor details like that, for most people are usually just so caught up in the realistic feel of the Vision, that once they awake, the don't realize the small things, you understand?"

Duo nodded.

"You'll have to think about it. See if you have any more." Quatre fell silent and then whispered, in fear and anxiety, "it wasn't anything bad...was it?"

Duo shook his head. "No. Just...confusing. 'The secret lies within.... You have found the book.... Find the secret.... You are getting closer....' I don't have the faintest what it could mean.... I think that.... I think that there's a hidden door somewhere in the library. In my dream, or Vision, or whatever it was, I found it. But when I touched it, I woke up. I want to know what was inside. Whatever it was, it was most likely in H'sung."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. All the words carved into the doors were H'sung. Into the wall was also H'sung. I guarantee it was H'sung in the book...."

Quatre's pale lips formed a line as he thought about this.

"You know the pictures on the door leading into the forbidden hall is all H'sung, right?"

The blond turned to look at his friend with curiosity.

"No. I didn't know that. What does it say?"

"Roughly translated, it reads.... 'The Pit of Darkness. Herein Resides the Great Lord of the Dark. All Who Proceed Bow Down Before His Might and Strength. Worship in His Eternal Grandeur'."

Quatre gasped.

"Then it is truly no wonder...."

"What is?"

"That the place has such a Negative Aura. Black seeps out of the wood and fills the entire hall.... I suppose that's why I was never tempted to see what was down it."

"Lucky you," Duo muttered to himself, rubbing his upper arm self-consciously.

~Til Then~