Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Somewhere in Between ❯ Salt to the Wound ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Author's Note: I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far! You guys are the best!
Confusion: I you are confused as to the timeline of events in this fic, please look at the explanation/timeline attached (last chapter
Disclaimer: I own none of the Gundam Wing characters or any information from the show used in this fic. The ideas though are my own.
This is an HY/RP story.
Please review!
Enjoy!
"____" Denotes outer dialog (conversation)
'______' Denotes inner dialog (thoughts)

Somewhere in Between
~Phoenixstar

Salt to the Wound

~~~

"You're thinking of the way you should've held my hand
And all the times you said you didn't understand
You never had our love written in your plans…"

~~~

Dead, she was far better off dead. No, that wasn't right. He wanted her alive, but still, in his eyes, if she was dead he could remember Relena, as she was when they had been together instead of how… How she was lying on the floor cradling Trowa in her arms. If she were dead he could remember her being in love with him, and most of all he could blame himself for letting her walk away and not being the one there to protect her. She was alive; yes, she was alive. The problem was she was with Trowa!
Heero sat back and picked up another pencil, flinging at across the room, his face twisted with anger. On impact, it shattered into splinters of wood, falling to the floor joining the rest of the morning's target practice. Then his face would go back to calm, eyes staring into space, seeing the previous night run over and over in his head. Her scream, Zechs' shot, and Trowa…
"No…" It was too much to take.
Another pencil bounced off the wall, landing somewhere in the foliage of the plants in the corner. He was torturing himself, and he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up. He needed to talk to somebody, he needed to vent, and he needed to tell someone before he went insane or ran out of pencils; both of which looked imminent, but... Damnit, what kind of perverse joke was this? First dead, then... Then…
"Argh," a stapler hit the wall, springing open, letting the small metal pieces shower to the ground. Life was getting harder and harder everyday, and fate was getting crueller by the minute.
She ran straight for Trowa though, no second thoughts, and to him, this fact was unavoidable. He wouldn't, no he couldn't, confront them. If she was happy then who was he to stand in the way? Yes, who what he? Heero Yuy, idiot of the century, that's who. It was his fault. Yes, he was very much to blame. He didn't treat her the way she needed him to; that was obvious. He had let her go and broken her heart; that was common knowledge. He had avoided her for months; that was necessary. He had overlooked Relena and Trowa; that was unforgivable. He should have known. His job was to know things, so why didn't he? Why was he so surprised when he saw that yesterday? Why did it hurt so much?
No, this was not happening. He wouldn't let it. This wouldn't kill him. He left her, and she left him in turn. It was over. 'Over.'
"Over," he almost screamed. The finality in his voiced scared him, because only now, he realised exactly how much he regretted it. Sure, he had missed her, but this, this was the end, she had moved on. Dead, dead, dead…

~~~

She hated hospitals, she always had. They were too sterile, too cold, and too empty. What she hated more though, was the fact that he was here because of her. First the bomb now this, it was spiralling down and she had no control. All she could do was try to hold out her hand to the passers by and hope they would save her, grab onto her before she hit the bottom, but the current of this river was too strong and unpredictable and the shores seemed to far out. She was going down, and now she was pulling people with her.
"Relena?" She raised her head, watching as Trowa tried to prop himself up on his elbows. Wincing in pain he decided just to sit up against the pillows. He looked worried, and he was not supposed to be worried about her. She was supposed to be worried for him; that's the way these things were supposed to be. He was hurt and it was her fault.
"What are you thinking about?" She sat up straight, trying to press her skirt with her hands. She managed a feeble smile.
"Nothing really."
Trowa continued to watch her.
"You looked pretty deep in thought there, but I guess not." She nodded and got up, trying to distract both herself and him by fixing the bedspread and the pillows.
"Relena I'm fine," and when she didn't stop, "Really." She looked at him with pained eyes for a minute before sitting back down in the chair she had positioned beside his bed. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
"Yes, some." 'You're such a little liar Relena, and you know it. You didn't get any sleep.' "Yes, I got some while you were still in surgery." She tried to smile reassuringly. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. How are you feeling?" She pointed towards his shoulder, which looked twice its normal size, bandaged under the hospital outfit. He noticed her change in topic.
"It's sore, but that's to be expected. It'll be better soon. I've been through worse." She nodded.
'See Relena, he's fine. He used to pilot a gundam, he's had far worse injuries than this. It's Heero you should be worried about.' 'Heero is Heero; he'll be fine.' 'You saw him walk away.' 'He's walked away before.' 'Yes, but you walked away from him too.' 'That's not fair.' 'Life isn't fair, you know that better than most people…'
"Relena?" Trowa's voice broke through her inner conversation. "Do me a favour and go home and get some sleep. I'll be fine here, don't worry." She looked up with him, her eyes pleading with him. She did not need to be alone now; it left her too much time to think, and right now, she had made far to many mistakes than she cared to think about. No, she was quite fine where she was sleep or no sleep. "Relena, please. You need some sleep; you can come back and visit later. I'm not going anywhere even if I wanted to."
"I just don't want to leave you here by your…"
"Relena, please." His voice was hard, and she knew it was useless to argue. Standing up she ran her fingers through her knotted hair.
"I'll see you… Later then… " He nodded and watched as she walked slowly to the door, where she stopped hesitantly. "Yes, I'll see you later," he heard her mumble before she was gone. He shook his head; he didn't understand her at all, and not for lack of trying. She trusted him; that much was obvious, but she kept pushing herself to him and then pushing him away again, and that was confusing.
He sat up, wincing as pain shot through his shoulder, an unpleasant reminder of Zechs' welcome. One minute he's talking to Relena, then the alarm went off, and then Zechs came in and shot him.
'This has been a week from hell,' he concluded. Making a point to ask Relena what had happened when she came back, he drifted off into semi-consciousness, the product of the heavy painkillers and remnants of the anaesthetic.

~~~

"Coming!" Duo screamed over his shoulder towards the door, trying to turn the tap of with wet slippery fingers. The person at the door was just about as stubborn as the tap would be closing. "Just hang on a minute!" he yelled, his fingers finally stopping the water flow. Wiping his hands off on his shirt, his walked towards the door. 'Some people…'
"Heero?" he said in absolute shock at seeing his best friends standing at his front door. More amazing was the fact that Heero's eyes were red and puffy, and even though he tried to hide it with indiscrete itching of the eyes, Duo guessed he had been crying too, although, knowing Heero he could probably put it down to no sleep. Duo moved aside instantly, and without speaking Heero stepped by him, and into Duo's small makeshift apartment. Duo showed him into the kitchen, as close to a living room as he had, and motioned for Heero to sit, which he did wordlessly. Duo was about to offer Heero a drink, when he thought the better of it. Whatever the guy was going through, alcohol would not help, so instead he pulled out a glass and started pouring some water. Setting it down on the table, he started sipping at his own glass, waiting for Heero to talk.
The two sat in silence for some time, Duo watching Heero intently, and Heero occasionally looking up at Duo, opening his mouth, like a fish out of water, and then closing it again and looking back down into his glass, which after several hours was still relatively untouched. Duo's rolled his glass on the table from on hand to the other, starting to become really uncomfortable in the silence.
"You plan on staying?" Heero shook his head. Duo decided enough was enough. "Heero, what happened?"
"I found her," even though Duo had been expecting this, the way Heero was acting completely caught him off-guard. Shouldn't he be happy? "Did Trowa leave soon after I did?" Duo could only shake his head no.
"What happened?"
"Nothing important."
"Like hell it isn't Heero. I don't want to have to ask you again. What happened?"
"I said nothing!" Heero yelled back.
'At least he's making eye contact,' Duo noted. "So why did you come over?"
"I felt like it," Heero said, looking back into his cup. Duo stared in wonder, he had never seen a glass of water hold someone's interest like that.
"You could lose a personality contest to a rock, you know that right?"
"Hn."
'Maybe I should have given him the alcohol, he might have at least said something more than 7 words long at a time.' Then he shook his head; no he wouldn't force Heero to say anything he didn't want to; even if not knowing was going to drive him insane. Duo's thoughts of torturing Heero into talking were cut short when the phone rang.
"Hello? … Yes, he's here… No, he didn't say so… Yes, I'll ask him… Tomorrow…" And he hung the phone back up on the cradle. "Heero, why did you really come here?"
"I felt like it…" Duo felt like screaming. It was like extracting the truth from a small stubborn child, which in many ways Heero still was, but Duo's temper only lasted so long, at least with Heero.
"Really."
"Lady Une asked me to tell you some things." Duo didn't know if he was more hurt by the thought that Heero wouldn't have shown up by himself or that he wouldn't tell him his real reason right off; but Duo knew Heero better than that. Knowing Heero, he would have a good reason. Duo motioned for him to continue. "I found her."
"I think you said that before, and?"
"She's alive."
"Yeah, I guessed as much… And that's why Lady Une sent you?"
"She called?"
"You are sure quick to catch on to things today."
"Hn."
"Yes, for your information that was Lady Une on the phone. Anything else you are supposed to tell me?" Seeing the look on Heero's face, "Other than her being found and alive."
"Zechs was there," Heero said swirling the water round the glass, ignoring the droops that sloshed out onto the table.
'Surprise surprise.' "Where is there?"
"Zechs' and Noin's house." Duo whistled his surprised.
"He's sure going to regret that one." Heero shook his head, somehow he didn't agree. He would have done that for Relena, but would have was a thing of the past and it was her brother that she ran to not him.
"Yes, well there's a meeting tomorrow, everyone's going to be there. Lady Une wants us there. She's quite… Overwhelmed by all this I think." Duo cringed mentally, knowing that overwhelmed was completely the wrong word to use for Lady Une and the temper she was known to have on occasion. "Anyways," Heero said setting the still full glass on the table, "I'd best be going I think." Duo thought to himself and tried to give a none to suspicious invitation for Heero to stay longer. To be honest, Heero looked terrible, black shadows clouding around his eyes; which in their own had now faded until they served only to filter the colours of the world to black and white. At least that's what Duo saw; Heero would have disagreed, his eyes saw far too well for his liking.
"Heero would you…" but Heero was gone, and although he was not surprised, Duo felt disheartened, in the way that only a friend convinced of their failure can.

Heero went back to his apartment after he left Duo's. Looking at his watch, he knew he had walked slowly, but he remembered nothing of it. His apartment smelt of the stale air that collects after even just a few day away. Blindly he walked from room to room pushing all the windows up, not caring that the air wafting in was just as undesirable as that inside, being filled with the sick heaviness of hot tar and exhaust. Life in the city makes one oblivious to this though, much as it had with Heero. If he had a T.V. that worked Heero might have turned it on and watched one of the low budget soap operas and talk shows sporting other 'couples' with problems, or if he taken the time to collect books he might have poured over the great classic story of the immortal heroes and heroines of fiction; but he had neither. So, he lay down on the couch, not bothering to change out of his coat or travel clothes, humming to himself a tune he had never been able to place. Soon he had drifted off into a light sleep, clutching his jacket around himself as the night breeze turned cold. If Relena had been able to see this sight, she might have looked away with eyes brimmed with tears of pain, but she was tossing and turning in her own bed, unaware that her discomfort was equalled.

~~~

If the day had started off odd, it had only gotten more so. When he had first opened his eyes, painfully aware of the tight feeling in his chest, and the itchy hospital clothing rubbing against his skin, Trowa had been greeted by the tired face of Noin. As surprised as he had been to see her sitting by his bed keeping a silent vigil, he could not understand her next actions. She had stood paced round his bed several times, which caused Trowa to feel rather uncomfortable. When she did stop, she stood at the foot of his bed, looking him up and down with narrowed eyes,
"You're feeling better." She had not waited for his affirmation though. He had felt better, although looking in the mirror now he didn't know how on earth she had seen that. Well, after that she had thrown some clothes, approximately his size, though not belonging to him, at him, turned and left the room, leaving Trowa, mind still hazy with sleep to wonder what was going on. After some reluctance and discomfort Trowa had gotten dressed and washed as best was possible in the tiny bathroom adjoined his room. His shoulder was still tender, and he guessed it would be for some time still to come, but he had experienced things far more painful than this before. While he was checking the room for anything of his (the thought never occurred to him that in the rush to bring him there or the few people that had come to visit him no personal effects of his were there to be left behind) Zechs appeared at the door. He stepped in but made no move to sit. Trowa had been shocked at the way the darkness around his eyes and his pale skin had contrasted with the light of his hair.
"You shot me." Seeing the flash of something in the older mans eyes Trowa knew that it had not been on purpose. Even if it had, by way of his temperament or his current physical condition would not have tried to grind salt on the wound.
"I didn't mean to." Trowa nodded, though slightly baffled as to why he was there. "I meant to shoot Heero."

~~~

There had been many empty houses in the past, and there were likely to be many in the future. This was the way of real estate. This fact alone though, never prepares one for having an empty home. When Heero had pushed open the heavy front door, and stuck his head round the edge of it he had felt rather than saw that it was empty. Apart from the usual clutter, which had vanished, or at least her share of it, the hallway looked just as it always had. Closing the door behind him, he set on a further look. The kitchen looked the same, dishes neatly packed away into the dishwasher or respective cupboards, fridge bare, table piled with mail that needed to have been looked at; no, there was no visible difference here. The same was true of every other room too, quiet and organised, pictures here, books there. Every room expect the bedroom. That was empty, of everything hers. Not like when it was clean, because then, when he opened the closet her stuff would be there. Now it wasn't. No, the house felt empty, as it would for some time.

~~~

"Fine mess this is," Sally muttered wearily from the chair across from the desk. Wufei nodded his agreement. "I don't get what's happening anymore. Chaos that's what; complete chaos." She picked her coffee cup up off the table and cradled it between her hands. "So tell me one more time."
"We are meeting because Relena was found; alive," Wufei flipped the page on his desk, and Sally watched, and repeated in what could have been mistaken as awe or disappointment. "By Heero. She was with Zechs, Noin and Trowa, who is coming to the meeting later from hospital." Sally nodded again. "That's all I know."
"That's all?"
"Why? You expect me to know more? We seem to have been behind on the times all along, what more do you expect now?" Sally noted the irritation in his voice and chose her words carefully.
"I just thought that maybe, you know, Lady Une knew anything else?"
"Not that she told me. Apparently Heero was rather, incoherent when she talked to him last. He'll be there today, then maybe we'll know more." He closed one folder and opened another, not paying any attention to Sally, who was sitting back, eyes glazed over in thought. "They should all be here by ten," he added and she looked at the clock; two hours. She sat back for a while, and Wufei, in his tired irritable state was thinking he was going to get some work done, when she opened her mouth again, but he quickly interrupted, "I am not going to say it again."
"I was actually going to ask if you wanted anything to drink?"
"No."
"Fine, I'll be back in a bit. Maybe when I get back you can tell me again?" She winked and was out the door in a flash. Wufei rolled his eyes, and leaned back in his chair, glad for some time to himself. With all that had been happening, he was falling behind. Now to get something done…
"Don't even think about it. Turn around go get your coffee and let me be. We'll find out later, I…"
"Wufei, man. You okay?"
"Duo! You're not Sally!" Duo's eyebrows furrowed together and he looked down at his body and then back up at Wufei's face.
"Ugh, you noticed too." Wufei dropped his head in his hands. "Can I, er, come in?"
"As long as you don't start asking questions. Shut up and you can stay." Duo shook his head and was about to protest when he saw Wufei was in no mood to be argued with. So, he sat down in the chair Sally had been in before and watched the clock awaiting the arrival of Noin, Zechs, Trowa and Relena, much like a chess player awaits a great opponent.