Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Subjects of My Sanity ❯ Strange Place ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gundam Wing Characters, and all that other good stuff.

Pairings: 2+1 or 1+2, still haven't totally decided, 3+4

Warning: Yaoi . Bad language. Prostituting peopleeee and all the gross bad guy stuff!

Authors Note: Forgive me!

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Strange Place

~^.O~

~Subject: Quatre~

Breath. Deep breaths…

Taking a couple gulps of the cold outside air, I tried to calm myself down a little after our short run. I was not in any way athletic. It was actually a little embarrassing that I could barely keep up with them as we ran down the streets, ran away from the two men chasing us. At least when we stopped, I wasn't the only one who was about ready to pass out right there on the spot.

Trowa had me seriously worried for a while there. And it didn't help ease the matter when he came barging out of the door like he was on fire. I could still feel my heart pounding in my chest as we sat ourselves down, preparing for Trowa's report. For some reason, I had a feeling he knew more than he was letting on, but we didn't really have time to drill him for more answers. We were supposed to be in hiding, hiding from the men whom were chasing us. I was really surprised to see them. Very, shockingly surprised. I guess I had told myself that the police had taken them away and they would never bother us again.

I was really wrong on that thought.

"You didn't find out 'anything'?" Duo complained, looking a little ticked off at Trowa. I think he was only mad at the situation, more so than at Trowa right then. Today was pretty stressful, and it seemed to me like everyone just needed to go home and sleep, take a long break before continuing this mad search.

Trowa shook his head from beside me. His eyebrows were crinkled together though, as if he was thinking about something intently, maybe hiding something from us that he did not want to share because of the extremity of it. Whatever was on his mind, it would have to wait, for voices around the corner had us all freezing up where we were hidden.

"… stupid. Dun go telling' da'…"

"Shut up you dimwit!"

From my position behind the dumpster, I could just barely make out the two figures walking down the sidewalk. The two thug looking men were swaying slightly, cursing as they passed our hideaway. You'd think they were drunk… but I figured they were just stupid.

"Fuck." Duo whispered rather loudly. "There getting away."

I blinked, looking at Duo in confusion.

"Come on, come on!" He said a little louder this time, jumping up from his crouch. "We gotta follow them."

"What?!" I yelled, 'way' too loudly, then only realized my mistake after the words were out. We all sort of froze, making sure that the thugs weren't going to investigate my outburst. Seeing as the coast was clear, and they didn't even seem to be paying attention, Duo promptly jumped back up, giving me a hard glare.

"Don't go screaming and getting us caught! We came all this way and I am going to see to it that we find some answers… somewhere!" To emphasize his point, he pointed his hand dramatically in the direction the two men had walked off to. "Let's hurry up and follow them!"

Someone was in a 'really' bad mood. And I was unlucky enough to be the one under that persons scary words.

I felt like I was going to be sick. Maybe… it was a small premonition to what was going to happen, what 'would' happen if we followed them. That thought didn't help calm me down at all.

I really, really do not understand how we did not get caught. With Heero growling, Duo cracking spy jokes, me moaning from a headache, you'd have thought we would have been heard by now! But no, not once did the two idiots look back to see us. Not that I wanted them to… but it seemed like the further we got, the less chance we had of making an escape. And who knew where they were leading us!

After about ten minutes of hide, duck, run, crouch, we finally stopped as the men entered an old tattered apartment building. I was getting a really bad feeling about this. And for some reason I could not take my eyes off the entrance. The tattered door where the two men had disappeared. Maybe it was a guess, but I had a pretty good idea of what this was.

The door opening suddenly, revealing a leather clad woman, had me confirming those suspicion. She was dressed in 'very' revealing clothing that had me thinking of prostitute right off. This could possibly be a… what do you call it? Whore house? Yes, this could be the place where Wufei was a… a prostitute. That thought still sent shivers down my spine. There was, possibly a big chance that this is where he would be, if my earlier assumption was correct.

Without thinking, I jumped up and started to make my way across the street, ignoring Duo's harsh whisper cursing me. The woman was gone by the time I crept towards the side of the building, looking for something as I went down the narrow alleyway.

"Quatre! What the fuck?!" Duo was behind me, breathing hard, starting at me with wide disbelieving eyes. "You're going to get caught!"

"Wufei's in there." I mumbled slightly, not caring if he heard me or not. That statement even sounded strange to my own ears. I had no actual proof that Wufei was in there, waiting for someone to come help him. But, I couldn't let this go by without investigating! Yeah, I had picked up some of Duo's earlier excitement. Though, this 'excitement' was based off of my fear for Wufei's well being.

"Qautre! Calm down!" Duo had a strange look on his face, like he was suddenly frightened of me. Maybe it was because I was glaring angrily at everything that moved. Or it could be because I had unconsciously started growling at the building in front of me. I was definitely not feeling like myself. "We can come back later, Q… but-"

"Duo. There is a window over there." I said, not really caring all that much that Trowa and Heero had joined us, and were starting to look at me weird as well. "I think we can fit through-"

"Quatre! What the hell is wrong? I thought you were against anyone going into-"

"Wufei is probably here." I growled.

"What makes you so sure?" Duo's words were said slowly and he was looking at me in a confused way.

I paused for a second, thinking about what I was just about to say… if I really wanted to say it. Should I let slip that secret I had made sure not to tell before?

"Look…" I pointed towards the ugly wall in front of me, the one attached to the old apartment building. "What do you think goes on in there?"

I could see Duo flinch slightly at the un-attempted anger in my question. He didn't answer.

"Did you see that lady at the front? Did you? She was a prostitute, wasn't she?" I started to make my way towards the side window again. It had to be one on the second story. There was no doubt in my mind that I couldn't squeeze my way through it if unlocked, but getting up there was going to be a challenge. And then there was the daunting thoughts that someone could be on the other side of that window. What would happen if I were to hop into a bathroom someone was using at the time?

I shook my head, trying to shake away the doubt trying to swirl inside of me.

"Well even if she was a prostitute… what does this have to do with Wufei?" I was startled to hear Heero ask that question. I think Duo was still too confused at my strange behavior to speak.

"Wufei…" I bit my bottom lip quickly. I really did not want to be the one to tell them this. "Wufei… he's a… he's kinda…" I paused once again, taking a deep breath. "He's like her."

"Like… her?" Duo looked puzzled for a minute before his eyes widened in understanding. "Oh… shit… you're serious?"

My head automatically nodded in answer as I sighed, feeling my head pounding once again. If Wufei ever found out about this… he was not going to be pleased with me.

"How do you know?" Heero asked, his face scrunched up in disbelief.

That was not a question I was willing to answer right then, and I let them know that by turning my back to study the window once more.

"Do you think we could move this dumpster under the window?" I asked, seeing that the disgusting trash bin was the only thing tall enough, sitting about twenty feet away from where I was standing.

"Hah! That thing looks like it weighs a ton!" Duo snorted. I had a feeling he was not going to make this easy on me.

"I think we could probably move it."

"Heero! Don't start agreeing with him on this!" Duo was looking at Heero like he was insane for even suggesting helping me in my plan. My plan to sneak in, that is. Which wasn't really a plan… seeing as I had no clue what the outcome was going to turn up as.

"No one is 'making' him go in." Heero walked over to the dumpster. "I will feel no guilt if he gets caught seeing as he went in on his own free will."

"Heero! That is so cruel! Were supposed to look out for one another! Not egg each other on to… to go get killed!" I think Duo was about to have a heart attack. Put him out of charge for one minute and he goes crazy! Wasn't he the one who pushed Trowa into going into that club in the first place?

"Duo…" I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm just going to see if Wufei is in there… somewhere."

Heero was now pushing lightly on the dumpster, testing its weight. By the way he nodded to himself, I figured he thought it possible for us to move it.

Something touched my arm and I looked up to see Trowa, eyes narrowed slightly at me.

"I'll be careful." I tried.

He didn't seem convinced in the slightest. Truthfully… I was actually thinking about forgetting the whole thing right then. I was scared. In a moment of panic I had pumped myself up enough to want to go into that… old… scary looking apartment building. But now that we had actually paused to talk about what I was going to do… I realized just how stupid of a plan it really was. How stupid would I feel if Wufei wasn't in there in the first place?

Hmm… now that I thought of it, just how was I going to find him anyway? If this was like any apartment complex that I had been in before… then all the doors would be locked from the residents. But… if it was 'really' a… a type of whore house… then… would it look the same inside? Would their be people actually… having sex in the halls or…?

I shivered. I didn't need to start thinking about those thoughts right then. They would only cause me to really chicken out and turn away.

It seemed possible at first, but the dumpster was actually a lot harder than Heero or I realized. It took us a whole ten minutes to position it only part way under the window. That was enough, and in the next minute I was lifting up the thankfully unlocked seal and climbing in. The thing that I hadn't expected was for Duo to come in after me. He fell to the floor of the dark room with a thud, whispering something to himself that sounded like 'damn, I think Heero is really gonna kill me for this one.'

"Duo! What are you doing?" I hissed, crouching down beside where he had landed.

"Making sure you don't get yourself caught!"

I glared at him, though I don't think he could see me in the dimness of the room. Truthfully, I was thankful I wasn't going in here alone, but… how the hell could Duo not see that he was the one that most stuck out? He'd be the one to get us caught! Not me!

I gave a quiet sigh before turning my attention to the interior of the room. It was a bedroom… or sorts. The bed was definitely interesting. The décor was all done in dark shades of red and maroon. I was glad it was dark or I am sure I would have gotten one big headache from it. Not that I didn't have a small, less noticeable one now.

It took us awhile to actually gather the courage to stick our head out the slightly cracked abandoned room, looking into the hallway in which it led too. Seeing no one at first, we stuck our eyes further out to witness the mess it showed. This was definitely not a normal apartment complex, I concluded. Personal possessions were sprawled carelessly around other doors, shoes littered the hallways along with trash. The living occupants must not have worried about people taking their things, which told me that they all must have known each other, and that this place definitely warranted investigation.

Duo was fidgeting besides me. If I didn't know any better I'd think he was starting to get nervous. Not that I wasn't nervous. No, my hands shaking against the doorknob told how uneasy I was.

Since the hallway was empty of all civilian life, we slowly, quietly made our way down, not really thinking about where it would take us or what we were supposed to do now. I guess, the only real way we were going to find Wufei, if he even happened to be here, was to search everywhere. And that meant the rooms aligning the hallway. All of them. Some could have been occupied… which seriously scared me.

Duo trailed behind me, almost running into my back as I abruptly stopped in front of one door. There wasn't anything odd, or different about this one from all the others, except for the sounds inside. From what I could make out, it sounded as if someone was coughing, way too much for just a common cold. Like a sick person was in there, choking up their life.

I unconsciously reached for the handle, turning it quickly, and to both me and Duo's shock, opened the door to reveal just what was inside. Call me crazy for opening the door in such a barge in manner, but… I still wasn't thinking straight at the time. The occupant didn't even look up though. Not that he could very easily, not when tied hand and foot to the head of the bed, ropes cutting into the skin, causing a deep red color to form around the restraints.

I could barely hear Duo's startled gasp from beside me, could barely hear my own sharp intake of breath because my ears were pounding with thoughts running through my head as I realized just who we were looking at. The boy was Wufei.

Suddenly, black eyes were looking at us threw sweaty bangs, red rimmed eyes trailing our movements. The coughing had stopped, he had settled down, but Wufei didn't seem to recognize us at all. He was just staring blankly at our forms, not really meeting our eyes. He looked dead… he felt dead.

It scared me. I think I would have screamed, would have started crying out in horror of the situation I was put into, but Duo quickly grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the picture of Wufei hanging, beaten and bloody.

I don't really remember how we got out of there. If we ran out through one of the windows in a room, or if we just walked out the proper way, but the next thing I new I was puking in the alley. Trowa had an arm around my waist, looking down at me with concerned, frightened eyes, asking me without words what had happened to cause this. I held back the urge to just reach out and burry my head in his chest, block out my surroundings, because… I needed to do something, needed to get help for Wufei.

"Duo?" I asked, looking around, trying to spot him through my blurry eyes. He was standing over by Heero, face hard, a strange gleam in his eyes. Heero was looking at him strangely, almost as if he was afraid of what Duo was going to do or say. "Duo, what are we going to do… we just left him… we just… he can't…"

"Go home." His voice was eerily steady as he spoke. "I'll call the police."

"But…"

"Quatre, you are in no condition to stick around. If the police get here and find you then you'd be taken in for questioning. Now go, me and Heero will take care of it." He remained calm, and I was almost chocked at that. How could he be so composed when… when Wufei was in there… he was…

I shook my head, trying to get myself together enough figure out some excuse to stay… to make sure that Wufei was actually going to get help. But, my voice failed me, and I found myself being helplessly lead out the alley by Trowa. He had his arm still around my shoulder, giving me a little push, a little help in the direction I assumed was towards my home.

I couldn't think straight, I couldn't even steady my breath enough pretend I was alright. My body was shaking, and for once, I was really glad Trowa had his arm around me, or I'd probably fall to the ground and curl up into a ball, not wanting to ever get up again.

We moved down the streets at a slower pace than was usual. But that wasn't what I was worrying about, nor was I worrying about the stares we were getting. I could not get that broken look in Wufei's eyes out of my head. I could not get the bloody… dark… room… painful…

I choked back a sob, causing Trowa to stop suddenly, both arms coming to embrace me as I shivered uncontrollably. That was the last thing I remembered of that. I didn't remember the world fading or falling limply into Trowa's arms, though, I imagined that that must have been some shock to him. No, I only remember waking up, bright lights filling the room, a number of people standing over me with various instruments, checking this and that.

The world faded in an out without my control. There was Trowa standing over me, then Iria, my father… a lot of unknown people…

What were they all doing?

I did not understand. I couldn't actually figure out what was going on in the few minutes of consciousness my body allowed me. It was a strange place, inside my head. And I slept, and slept… until finally, I was able to get out of my dazed state, un-fog my mind enough to open my eyes, clear them in order to take in my surroundings.

A hospital.

Somehow, I had ended up in a hospital. It made sense now, those images I had seen in my half conscious state. But what I could not figure out… was why I was here at all. I was perfectly healthy, wasn't I? Just what happened to me?

I must have made some sort of noise because the next thing I saw was Iria's head hovering over me, eyes wide, big smile plastered on her face as she chirped, "Quatre! You're awake!"

I blinked stupidly up at her, trying to make sense of what she had just said. My brain must have been on first gear because it took me awhile to put sense into her simple sentence.

"A.. Aa…" I croaked, mouth feeling dry for some reason. Just how long had I been there?

"You've been here for a while yet." Iria answered, much to my confusion. I must have said that out loud without realizing it. Boy was I messed up.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to sit up. Iria jumped at the opportunity and helped me lift my body just enough to get a better angle of my room.

"You fainted. The doctors said…" She paused, the smile disappearing from her face. "Quatre why didn't you tell me that you were so… stressed? The doctors told me your body probably just couldn't handle it and that was why you had passed out. You had me worried for awhile there! Thankfully that young man… ah… I never got his name, did I? Well he got you here, but we couldn't get anything out of him. He seemed to just ignore… Oh! And your father was here for a little bit, which surprised me. He left though, went to some business emergency! So like him to up and leave his son when-"

"Iria." My head was starting to hurt slightly and the room was looking as if it was moving all of a sudden.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry." Iria covered her mouth, moving over to help me lay back down. That seemed to help and the room got a lot less shaky. "I should go tell the doctor you are awake. Then you need to rest. They said that would be the best thing for now. You'll be staying home for awhile… yes…" My sister got a strange, almost determined look on her face as she made her way towards the door, looking at me one last time before leaving to find the doctor.

It was probably really cruel for me to have been glad she was gone. But I really needed this time alone to sort out my thoughts. There was something I was forgetting, and I couldn't quite figure out just what it was. I shouldn't have been worrying about it, I should have been resting like I was supposed to. But… the nagging in my head would not leave and I found myself thinking back to earlier that day.

Duo had been over with everyone else… we went… to search… apartments… thugs… Wufei!

I would have jumped up if I could. I wanted to get out of bed and go find Duo right away. I needed to know what had happened. Of course, my body wouldn't allow me that and I ended up once again staring at a spinning room, fading away slowly into darkness. Great, I had a feeling I was going to be stuck here for a long while.

Just before I fell completely under, I prayed that someone… someone would come to tell me just what happened with Wufei. How was I ever supposed to stop this worrying when I had that situation hanging over my shoulders?!

TBC.

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Gah… Ugh… Ok… I'ma REALLY, really, REALLY sorry about the super long wait. I would list off a bunch of excuses for why this chapter took so long to get out… but… they are all probably really lame and it all boils down to 'I had problems with this damn chapter' Gah! Lol, well, hope you liked this one, even if it wasn't that long. 'I' was really happy with it because now I finally have a good push towards the ending! I'll make sure that the next chapter is up within this week. After my super long break, I gotta make sure not to waste any more time when I could be writing! Please review and tell me what ya thought!