Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Souls ❯ Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own the G boys, I just borrow them to play with from time to time and return them relatively undamaged... honest... :)

Rating: NC 17, Angst, Yaoi, Sap, masturbation, sad in parts, LEMON.

Pairings: 3x4, 2xH, 5+S, OCx2, eventual 1x2x1

Notes: Set 2 years after Endless Waltz. The pilots have all gone their separate ways but still keep in touch. Duo is with Hilde on L2 but cannot forget Heero.

" Lost Souls "

May 2002 ShenLong

Chapter 11

The boys all managed to find their way back to the family room having made only one wrong turn on the way. Seeing that Quatre and Trowa had yet to arrive with the promised nourishment they decided to explore a little. It wasn't long before Toby and Benny had a vid game going while Mickey watched giving encouragement from the side lines. Paul and Colin had found the CD collection and were busily checking out the titles while Shane kept a quite eye on them all. He knew that Quatre wanted them all to treat the place as their own, but he had yet to come to terms with that and didn't want anything to jeopardize their new found happiness.

Watching the game in progress Shane failed to hear Trowa as he entered the room bearing a large tray filled with biscuits of all kinds. Trowa stood and watched the sight before him in mild amusement. Quatre came up behind him and also stood spell bound for a moment, he smiled as he took in the sight of the boys so obviously enjoying themselves. But the moment could not last forever and it was Mickey that first spotted the older youths.

"Hi Trowa.... Quatre." he said a little uncertain.

"Hey there. For a minute I thought I was in the wrong house." smiled Trowa.

"Whacha mean, wrong 'ouse? Don 'cha know ya own place?" responded Toby.

"I didn't recognize all these clean boys." laughed Trowa.

Toby went red. "Was we that dirty?" he said as he hung his head in shame. He hadn't given the state of his cleanliness too much thought before as water had been scarce on the colony.

"I think what Trowa means is that it's nice to see what handsome young boys we have as our guests." said Quatre warmly and he moved across the room to place the tray he carried on the large coffee table. "Now who's hungry?"

The five young ones immediately stopped what they were doing and made a bee line for the table eager to see what had been placed there. Shane gave Trowa a hand to pour out the milk and pretty soon everyone was seated with a plate and mug. For a while there was only the contented sounds of munching and the odd slurp as the warm milk found it's way into a happy stomach.

When they had all eaten their fill Toby asked the question they all had on their minds. "How's Duo doin'?"

"He's doing okay Toby. Sally , our doctor friend, has done the tests she needed to and knows what it is that's wrong with him. She has gone back to the hospital to get the proper medicine for him."

"So he's gonna be 'kay then?" asked Mickey.

"Once the medicine gets into his body it will kill off the disease."

"Ow long fore he's better then?" said Colin

"I really can't say. It all depends on the disease and the medicine, but I do know that if you all hadn't helped him the way you have then he wouldn't be alive right now." said Quatre quietly.

"'es our friend and that's what friends do... elp each other." said Paul.

"That's right Paul, friends should always stick together and help each other." Trowa responded in his soft voice.

"Can we see 'im?"

Quatre turned to Shane. " Best to wait till Sally and Wufei get back. She will let you know when you can see him."

"Thanks."

"Now if you have all eaten your fill Trowa and I would like to talk to you all about something very important."

Five faces turned and stared at the Arabian, each eager to hear what he had to say. Briefly Quatre outlined the idea that he and Trowa had discussed in regards to finding the boys permanent homes on earth. "We think that if you all stay here and get to know the Maguanacs, and they you, that we will be able to find you all a family to live with for as long as you like." finished Quatre.

Trowa watched the boys faces carefully for any sign of what they were thinking. Quatre could feel with his special empathy the whirl of emotion that was currently running through each boy's soul.

"There is no rush and no pressure on anyone. We want you guys to take your time, meet the other families, get to know them all and then later on when you are comfortable and find someone you would like to live with permanently then we will go ahead with the arrangements."

Shane looked at the others that had been his family for so long now. They all seemed to find this offer a bit overwhelming. In the space of a day their whole lives had changed. "I think I speak for all of us when I say this Quatre. We all appreciate yer kindness and generosity. There is no doubt that the life we have led up to now hasn't been an easy one and we are used ta fending for ourselves. It's gonna take a while to adjust ta all of this, not that we don't like it..... we do.... but..."

Trowa placed a hand on the teen's arm. "We know what your saying Shane and we understand. You all can take your time, think about it, discuss it amongst yourselves, ask any questions you want and if you decide you don't want to live with anyone else then that's okay. None of you have to leave here if you don't want to."

Each boy was wrapped deep in his own thoughts. So much had happened in the short expanse of time and now they were being offered the chance to find a real family as well. It was all too much for Benny who suddenly burst into tears. Quatre was quickly at his side soothing and stroking the young boy.

"Sorry." sniffed Benny.

"It's okay. You can cry all you want to Benny, no one will think any less of you for it."

"It's jus.... I never ad anyone 'fore..... I don't really member my mom or my dad, all I member is feelin cold an ungry all a time." He whimpered.

Rocking the boy gently in his arms Quatre felt a deep sadness. The youngsters, like them had been forced to grow up too soon.

Shane looked carefully around the small group, each of the boys could see the hidden question in his eyes and one by one they nodded their consent. He cleared his throat and directed his speech at Trowa. "None of us can really remember our parents, either because we can't or the memory is too painful. " He began, "All of us became street kids for one reason or another, along the way we found each other and sort of joined up. L2 as yer may know can be a dangerous place, and when yer a kid an alone it becomes even more so. As a group we had a better chance of surviving, and even if we didn't no one was going ta know or care." He bowed his head.

"You don't have to do this Shane." said Quatre.

"I know I don't but yer have already done so much for us that we want yer to know what each one of us as done to survive. We need to do this and then if yer are still sure that you wanna find us a family to be a part of then that's okay with us, but if you don't then that's okay too."

"I understand Shane. As much as I think it will pain us to hear your stories by telling us you can all start to heal." said Trowa

Taking a deep breath he nodded to the other boys and began to relate their tales of horror and misery. "Colin and Mickey are both orphans, their parents were killed during the wars. They don't remember much about it all other than one day they were in school and that night their homes were destroyed by an Oz attack. Mickey spent some time in the hospital and Colin was lucky to get out with scrapes and bruises. They were neighbors and once Mickey was well enough Colin took 'im from the hospital and they hid out on the streets. They had over heard the hospital staff sayin they was going to contact the authorities and put 'em in a orphanage. At their age they didn't understand much and having lost their families to the so called 'authorities' they panicked and fled. I met em a couple of years ago now an they been with me since then."

Trowa nodded silently, now it made sense to him as to why Colin and Mickey were a little quieter than the rest around them.

Shane continued, "Paul was the next one to join us. His mom died when he was a baby so he never knew her, his dad raised 'im if yer could call it that. His dad was a junkie an when Paul was old enough is dad would send 'im on the streets to sell is'self an bring the money home so he could buy more drugs. If Paul didn't bring home enough is dad would beat 'im. He ran away when he was 12 an sold imself to survive. I met 'im when working the same beat and we joined up."

Quatre felt the tears pricking at the back of his eyelids, so that was why the blue eyed, black haired boy always carried a look of distrust on his face and flinched when a sudden movement was made near him.

"Benny here was abandoned by his mother. He used to come to the park on weekends and play footy with us. One day he went home after a game and found is mom ad split. We helped 'im look for her but she had shot through, we never found a trace of 'er."

Benny looked at Trowa with wide blue gray eyes "I dunno where she went." He said sadly, "I musta done somefin really bad for her to leave me like that."

Reaching out for the youngster Trowa pulled him into his strong warm arms, "No Benny, you didn't do anything bad." he soothed.

"As for young Toby 'ere I knew his mom really well, she was jus a kid herself when she got raped. Tob was the result of that. She used to hang out with a mob of other kids after Tob was born but they turned her in. She was okay for a while but then they wanted to take Toby away from 'er so she smuggled 'im out one night an left 'im where she knew we would find 'im. He was only 5 then."

Quatre hugged the little boy closer to him, a mixture of pain, hate and anger passing through him. Toby was such a cute little kid. He could understand the girls reasons for abandoning him, but it didn't make it any easier to accept.

The rooms mood was a somber one now as each of the boys looked from one to another and back again. The silence was thick as they waited for Trowa and Quatre to pass judgment on them, to tell them to pack up and get the hell out, that street scum like them weren't welcome in their beautiful home.

But it never came.

'You have told us all about the others but what of you Shane? What happened to you? Why were you living on the streets and selling yourself for?" asked Trowa softly.

Shane stared into those deep emerald depths the pain evident on his face. He sighed and resigned to his fate began the tale of his own miserable life. "My parents didn't really want me. I could tell that when I was just 6. They were always tellin me how worthless and useless I was. As I got a little older so the drinking started. At first it wasn't so bad, dad would usually have a few too many an just pass out. But then as I got older it got worse. Sometimes he would beat me then pass out in a drunken stupor always full of apologies the next day. I tried to tell my mom but she wouldn't listen, said I was making it up. She wasn't much better though... always drinkin herself. I guess I was stupid, I believed 'im when he said he was gonna change.... but e never did. When I got to bout 11 and started goin through puberty he noticed the change." Shane shivered as his memory supplied him with visions he thought he had long ago buried.

Trowa reached forward and placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "I know this is hard for you Shane but it may help you to heal if you tell us what happened."

Shane nodded and his breath hitching a little continued his tale, "He would get is'self drunk an make me do things to him and to myself while he watched. Mostly he would jus make me suck 'im off or jerk 'im off. Sometimes he'd suck me off or make me jerk myself off for him." Shane's face reddened as he remembered those times. "Then one night he.... he went further. Told me it was my duty as a son. That god damn son of a bitch raped me! He shoved his cock right up my ass and god it hurt! I screamed, begged an pleaded for 'im to stop but he wouldn't. He told me he was showing me what to do, that it was his job as a father to fuck me so as I would know how to do it right when the time came. When he ad finished I was so sore an humiliated that I grabbed all my stuff an left. He ad passed out so I left 'im there and took off. I didn't know where I was goin or what to do so I jus kept runnin till I couldn't run no more. I found myself a gang ta hang out with and learnt the way of the street kids. Sometime later I moved on an then I met up with these guys one by one and somehow we all stuck together." The tears ran freely down his cheeks as he spoke of his past, something he had not done, not even the rest of the guys knew what Shane had suffered.

Quatre released Toby and moved to Shane, pulling the boy close to his chest he ran his hands gently across Shane's back, soothing and comforting the boy. The rest of the group sat in shocked silence. None of them had had even the smallest of an inkling as to the torments and horrors that Shane had suffered through. Compared to Shane's past theirs were insignificant.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The car pulled to a stop and Wufei got out. Quickly he opened the other door and Sally emerged carrying her doctors bag with the precious drugs to treat Duo. Silently they went inside the mansion. Sally headed straight up the stairs to check on her patient while Wufei began to hunt for the rest of the group. Hearing the quiet hum of a voice he followed the sound to the family room and paused in the doorway.

Trowa and Quatre were in the middle of what appeared to be a group hug. He cleared his throat and spoke. "I hope I am not interrupting anything." a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Wufei! You're back." called Quatre.

"Obviously."

"Did yer get the stuff for Duo Mr. Wufei?" asked Mickey.

"Affirmative. Sally has gone straight to his room to administer the dose."

"So when can we see 'im?" Benny asked tugging on Wufei's trouser leg.

"Sally will be returning shortly. She will let you know when you can visit Maxwell."

"Great!" squealed several voices.

Wufei took in the slight undercurrent of turmoil that emanated from the room along with Shane's red rimmed eyes. He quirked an eyebrow at Trowa who shook his head slightly. Wufei acknowledged with a nod, he would find out later what had gone on.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Heero sat holding Duo's hand, the American was still unconscious and sweating as the fever continued to play with his body. Reaching for the cool wash cloth he ran it lightly over Duo's forehead. "Please Duo, fight this, come back to me..... I need you." He whispered as he bathed the creamy skin that was flushed with the disease.

The door opened and Heero looked up as Sally entered the room. She moved to the table and proceeded to empty out the contents of her bag. Picking up a needle she held a bottle of clear liquid aloft and pierced the soft rubber stopper. Drawing back on the plunger she filled the syringe and removed the needle point. Picking up a swab she moved to Duo's side and strapped his arm to raise the vein. Swabbing it lightly she injected the clear substance and released the strap. Lowering the arm and tucking it back under the blanket she threw the now used syringe in the bin and needle into the *sharps* [1] container.

Heero watched the procedure in silence but his eyes followed every movement.

Taking Duo's blood pressure and temperature again she was pleased to note that pressure was stable and temperature had dropped a little, not enough but at least it was a start. She smiled as she noted the clean silky hair once more in its neat tidy braid. Turning to Heero she spoke. "His temperature has dropped a little which is a good sign. The drug I have just given him will target the disease and hopefully we should start to see an improvement in the next 48 hours. Has he been conscious at all while I was gone?"

"Hai. He woke for a short while."

"Did he say much? Was he lucid or still in delirium?"

"He was pretty clear in his speech. He didn't seem to remember much though."

Sally frowned. "Hmmmm..."

"What?"

"Sometimes this disease can attack the brain cells."

Heero looked up sharply and grabbed Sally's arm. "W...what do you mean?"

"The raised temperature combined with the virus can attack the brain cells causing loss of memory amongst other things." She looked at the man before her and read the panic in his eyes. "I'm sure however in Duo's case from what you have said the memory loss will only be temporary, however I need to warn you that the short term memory loss may be permanent and then again it may not. We will need to wait until he is conscious again before I can assess just how much of his short term memory remains."

"He said he couldn't remember what had happened to him."

"Maybe that's a good thing Heero."

"Hn. He was begging me to tell him........... but I declined." He added quickly as he saw the expression on Sally's face.

"Good, better to wait till he is stronger." Sally retrieved a new saline bag and changed the current, nearly empty one. Checking on the flow rate and seeming satisfied with the result she faced Heero once more. "Depending on his condition I would like to operate on him tomorrow." she said quietly. "The sooner I can then the better it will be for him but I will see how his condition is first."

Heero watched as Sally changed the saline bag and registered the words she spoke. "Hai. I agree."

"Umm Heero?"

"Hai Sally?"

"When I operate I don't want you present."

"Nani?"

"I think it would be best if you stayed out while I do the surgery. Trowa and Wufei can help me." She watched for the reaction out of the corner of her eye.

"No! I want to be here."

She sighed, "Heero you are too personally involved and I don't think it would be a good idea for you to be present when I am operating."

"I'm staying." The words held a finality about them.

"No Heero you are not. I will not do the surgery while you are present and that is final. Wufei and Trowa are not as attached as you are and they are more than capable of assisting me."

Heero's shoulder slumped forward in defeat. He knew Sally was right but he didn't want to leave his love's side for a moment. "Hn, okay you win. But you had better not let anything happen to him." He growled as his fists clenched.

"I wont Heero, I know how much he means to you... to all of us." she reached to give Heero's shoulder a light squeeze. "He's sleeping now so why don't you go and get some rest?"

"No. I want to stay here with him."

"Heero you aren't going to be of any use to him if you don't get some rest. You're exhausted, when was the last time you ate? Or had a shower?"

"Hn."

"I thought so. Go Heero, get something to eat, take a shower and rest for a while. I will stay with him. If he wakes I will call you immediately." She reached into her pocket and produced a pager. "Here take this, that way I can contact you immediately there is any change."

"Thanks." Heero took the small gadget and clipped it to the waistband of his jeans.

"Now shoo.... get showered and fed, there is a small group of lost boys down there that need to see you as well."

"Hai." Heero knew that Sally's words made sense and reluctantly he agreed. He moved to Duo's head and placed a small kiss on the youth's cheek. "I will be back shortly Duo, get better for me my love." Then he turned to leave, pausing once more before the door he turned to gaze once more at the American's still form. "You will contact me if there is any change? No matter how small?"

"Yes Heero, now go." chastised Sally.

Heero reluctantly left the room and went to his own. Standing under the shower with the warm water coursing over his weary body he thought of Duo and the words they had exchanged. Raising his head to stare at the shower head he spoke his thoughts softly. "Duo... please Duo.... Get well for me... I need you and I hope you can remember that I love you." Turning the water off he snagged a towel and dried himself off.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The boys had all gone back to their rooms to change for dinner and Wufei found himself alone with Trowa and Quatre. "So, what happened?" the question was simple.

Quatre ran his hands through his blonde bangs and sighed. "Those boys are amazing." he said quietly. "The things they have been through and done, I'm surprised they aren't more emotionally scarred than they are."

Trowa took up the story and related quickly to Wufei what had happened during his absence.

Wufei allowed a soft whistle to escape. Not known for showing any emotion he looked through eyes that held tears as he came to terms with what Trowa was telling him. "Those poor kids." was all he could say.

"Yeah, they have been through a lot together."

"They deserve better." was Wufei's reply.

"And they're sure going to get it if I have anything to do with it." stated Quatre fiercely.

Wufei stared at the Arab, now seemed as good a time as any to share with the pair the idea that had begun to infiltrate his mind during the trip from the earth port. "I realize that your intentions are honorable as far as seeing the boys adopted out into families." he began. "I have done some thinking in relation to the one called Paul. He reminds me of myself in some ways."

Trowa watched in silent amusement as Wufei clearly battled to find the words he needed.

"I have discussed this with Sally and she agrees with me."

"What is it you are proposing here Wufei?" Quatre asked.

"If you will hold your tongue for a moment I will tell you." hissed Wufei.

Trowa chuckled which earned him a hostile glare from Wufei and a small smile from Quatre.

"I would like to take the boy Paul to live with Sally and myself. I believe he has the potential to become an honorable person."

"You're not going to turn him into a warrior now Wufei, the wars are over you know." smiled Quatre.

Wufei scowled. "I know that! I think the boy has a lot to give and I would like the opportunity to bring out what I can sense within him. He is young and if I am correct in my thinking he could become a good scholar and trained the right way he would be an asset to the Preventer network."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." said Trowa, "But I think you would need to discuss it with him and see what he thinks."

"Hai. I intend to but I will wait a few days and get to know him a bit better first. He needs to adjust and learn to trust, and that will take time."

"I admire your idea and your reasons Wufei. I think it is an excellent proposal." said Quatre and smiled warmly at the Chinese youth. "Now I suggest we change and meet in the dining room for dinner."

The three stood and made their way to their respective rooms to change.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

[1] A special container for sharp pointy objects usually found in hospitals, doc's surgery's etc.