Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Parallel ❯ Waking up ( Chapter 6 )

The next capsule of time was unclear for Relena. It stretched interminably, with her being lifted roughly out of that fireside chair, jerking in and out of consciousness, from doorways to cool, night air, to a car, and then what must have been later a tarmac below the feet that ran but weren't her own. Finally, she was laid to rest on cool sheets and a hard bed. A strap laid across her waist and another at her legs should have made her resist, but much of the fight had drained out of her hours before.

 

When she woke, her mouth was dry and sticking to itself, while her legs cramped painfully and she felt an all-over sluggishness much like a hangover. The light in her room was far too strong and she blindly reached for the lamp to turn it off. Then the odd dimensions of the very air around her suddenly penetrated her dull mind. With a feeling of falling inside her own body, fear struck her just for a split second as she registered that she was lying in an unfamiliar room. Immediately she forcefully steered herself away from fright, holding on to something like anger to make her legs move. It was at this point that she discovered the intravenous needle stuck into the crook of her left arm and paused. In the act of pulling it out, she was halted by a shuffle, clearly meant to be heard in a corner of the room.

 

Cursing mentally for still being slow-witted, she obediently turned her gaze in the intended direction and slumped in relief.

 

“Quatre,” croaked out of her throat, and she cleared it not ever liking to sound so unkempt. “What happened,” she asked with only moderate curiosity.

 

“We rescued you,” he replied. Relena looked blank trying to recall the details. “You were …” he paused, swallowing, perhaps nervously? “You were attempting to kill yourself when we got there.” The last was very low and if not for the general silence of the room, she probably wouldn't have heard it.

 

Still stubbornly blank, Relena was sure she didn't want to remember anything. One lesson she'd learned in recent times was how very much it was worth it to forget things. The silence stretched in a less than companionable way in that too bright room, but she'd be damned if she was going to break it.

 

So they'd rescued her, had they? Well, she'd just wait until they came up with the gall to tell her what they wanted from her and then she'd tell them to go to hell.

 

In another room, a smirk, barely there, perked up the intensely blank features of Heero Yuy as he watched Relena's face in the monitor. Trowa, always aware of the slight nuances of the animal language of movement caught that glimmer of amusement and shifted to get a better look at the screen.

 

“Perhaps you should go in?” he suggested quietly. Heero didn't reply, just continued to bore holes in the screen with his notoriously pure concentration. There was no reason to talk to Trowa, never was, unless something needed clarification. The man's ability to float along with a situation interminably until an opportunity arose was a testament to his patience, indifference, and general independence. Plainly put, he didn't require input.

 

“I feel glad to see you Heero; I imagine Relena will too,” Trowa murmured. It was so unlike Trowa to speak again that Heero actually scowled. The man was being downright meddlesome. Glad to see him? Trowa felt glad to see him? Perhaps the difference between these two universes was greater than predicted. Would Relena be glad to see him? He wasn't sure if glad could be even the smallest subset of the way he felt looking at her living face, with that ridiculously stubborn jaw and the way she always held her head high, all the while looking like the kindest, sweetest little creature in heaven and earth. Glad? Was he really ready to find life again after it had left him alone to kill and die? After she had left him alone? Really, he felt more than a little angry looking at the woman in the monitor. She too had been about to leave, just as he arrived. She was determined to die before him and that just pissed him off.

 

They wanted him to fix their world. They wanted him to fix her. But was that woman really his wife? She was, to put it bluntly, dumpier. Her hips were wider, the waist thicker, and even the back seemed curved in ways he didn't remember. But the clench of that jaw was unmistakable. Only Relena could get that look in her eyes when she felt certain about something, and just seeing it now heightened sensation along his arms and right up his scalp.