Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Psionic Saga ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four

Quatre woke with a startled gasp, sweat pouring off his chest as he stared at the darkness. He quickly got off the bed and checked the windows. They were still locked, the door closed, the night all consuming. He sat, satisfied, on the end of Duo's bed, where he had agreed to sleep while Duo and Wufei were in his room, and tried to remember what had woken him.

A dream. He dreamt he was in the hands of the people Wufei had told them about. He had been screaming for someone to come and help him but no one heard. None came. He was alone, dying, with nothing but pain for company.

Quatre stared at the wall for a moment, or what he thought was the wall, and digested his dream. He came to a conclusion and hurriedly pulled on some trousers over his boxers, grabbing a shirt from the end of the bed as he left the room through the door, locking it as he went.

The corridors were cool, which served Quatre well as he made himself hurry to the lower levels. So far no one had questioned his presence on the fifth dorm level, but he did not want to take any chances. Besides, the people who had hurt Duo and Wufei could be anywhere.

He knocked lightly on the door to his room and heard a shuffling within. A minute later Heero opened the door and let him slip inside before locking it once again. Quatre studied Heero as the brunette hurried back to his place between the two beds and sat, watching Duo. Heero had been up almost two days, yet he was perfectly awake, his bright blue eyes showing no sign of weakness, no need for sleep. Quatre often wondered if Heero needed to sleep. For most people it was a necessary part of life, but Heero was not most people.

"I couldn't sleep. I thought...I thought they might be lonely."

Heero almost smiled, laughter alight in his eyes. As if the blissfully unconscious could be lonely. Still, the sentiment was so perfectly Quatre he nodded in reply. Taking that as assent, Quatre sat on the edge of Duo's bed and just watched, as Heero had been doing. The lines on Duo's face were not so vivid now, fading as Wufei's had faded, but they were still dark. Placing a finger on Duo's cheek Quatre hissed. His skin was still freezing, the markings still burning to touch.

Wufei turned over at the sound of Quatre's sharp intake of breath and sighed, waking. He sat up, moved off the bed and padded lightly to stand between Quatre and Heero. Wufei laid a bronze hand on Duo's forehead and bowed his own, chin tucked hard against his chest.

"This is a dishonourable act," he whispered under his breath. "I will destroy them for this."

Quatre was not surprised. Wufei was always on a mission to destroy all the dishonourable things in the world. In some small cases he succeeded, in most the things he sought to destroy were untouchable, intangible elements of society he could never hope to eradicate. This time though...Quatre fervently hoped Wufei could do it.

The hand strapped to the side of the bed near Quatre suddenly pulled hard on the shirt-ropes Trowa had used to tie Duo down. Heero lurched to his feet and glared at the still body, daring it to move. Quatre wondered what he would do if it did.

He didn't have to wait long. The opposite hand suddenly tore hard against the material, then the other began wrenching hard as well. Within a minute Duo's legs were kicking hard, his body struggling. Quatre could see movement beneath the eyelids. He leant over Duo's chest and looked into the boy's face.

"Duo? Can you hear me?"

The lids snapped open and huge violet eyes looked at him, horrified. All Quatre saw in them was agony. Duo did not recognise him. Duo's mouth opened but Quatre shoved his hand sideways into the gap as Duo screamed and the sound was muffled. Duo's teeth bit into his hand and Quatre saw blood pouring down Duo's cheek but he did not pull away, pushing his own pain aside. It was nothing to whatever Duo was feeling.

Heero pushed Quatre onto the bed, forcing him to straddle Duo's chest. Duo only thrashed more at the sudden contact, trying to escape something his mind didn't realise was already gone.

Heero was holding Duo's arm in a harsh lock, his fingers digging into the white skin. Quatre had no doubts as to how it would bruise, but he said nothing. He just watched as Wufei carefully injected the morphine and pulled away. Heero released the arm.

They all waited. The thrashing slowed and eventually stopped. Duo's breathing lightened and his teeth released Quatre's hand. Quatre cradled it in his lap, wrapping it in the bottom of his shirt.

A light whimper escaped Duo's lips as he blinked, his eyes losing some of the outraged fire and finally settling on Quatre.

Quatre gently lifted himself off Duo's chest and sat on the side of the bed, concerned but relieved Duo was finally awake. He had feared Duo would never wake up.

"Quatre?" Duo's voice was small, barely audible.

"I'm here. So are Wufei and Heero. Everything's fine. We're all here."

Duo relaxed a little but Quatre could still see intense pain in the bluish-purple eyes. Unshed tears lingered on the dark lashes.

"God it hurts..."

Heero leant forward and grabbed the cross Duo always wore around his chest. He placed it in one of Duo's hands. The braided boy smiled faintly and seemed to take a small amount of comfort from the artifact, thought why Quatre could not tell for he knew Duo did not believe in God.

"Duo," Heero asked with surprising softness. "What is in the light charges you make? And the bomb you put in Wufei's microwave?"

"It wasn't a bomb!" Duo protested but his body convulsed as he tried to raise his voice and he ended up coughing wildly. When at last he settled down he looked pointedly at Heero and said "it was just a joke."

Quatre shook his head and tried not to laugh, fully aware that what Duo considered a joke and the rest of the world considered funny were two entirely different things.

"Duo, what in them is the same?"

Duo was obviously confused by the question. Quatre wanted to tell Heero to stop asking, but he didn't because he knew Heero was only trying to protect them all, Duo included. Until they found out what Duo put in those devices they had no weapon against the attackers.

"I don't know," Duo groaned. "Some wires are similar, some of the timers built in...maybe...No, wait. I changed the light device. I made it better..."

Duo was thinking hard, but Quatre could see it was causing him pain. Tears were welling in his eyes again and he was shaking. Quatre looked pleadingly at Heero but was met with cold Prussian glass. He swallowed dryly and waited for Duo to finish.

"I made it capable of...producing its own energy, feeding off kinetic energy in the air around it...the bomb in the microwave was the same. It fed off the energy the microwave produced."

Wufei's jaw dropped and not just because Duo had finally admitted it was a small bomb. They were all gaping at the braided boy, but Duo was grinning, evidently pleased with the new alterations to his device.

Quatre couldn't imagine how Duo had succeeded. Always the devices had needed an alternate power source, and Duo had usually used batteries. How had he managed it? Surely it wasn't possible?

"What would that make the devices do?" Heero pressed, sensing the answer just beyond reach.

Duo scrunched his forehead in thought. He was sweating with the effort it took to concentrate on thoughts instead of the pain. Quatre pitied him.

"They would suck passive energy from around themselves and transform them, emitting emf's...but the emf's would be different, altered by the new formation of the device..."

Quatre had no idea what Duo had just said. He looked at Wufei who just shrugged and both turned to Heero.

"Emf's..you mean electro magnetic fields?"

Duo nodded then gasped, one arm pulling at its restraint in reflex to a shot of pain that spasmed through his body. Duo's eyes went wide, his eyes fluttering wildly.

"Heero...the assignment..." He hissed then his body convulsed and went still. Duo was unconscious once more.

Quatre looked at Heero questioningly. What about the assignment? Trowa had gone and handed them all in. There was no problem. Surely Duo wasn't worried about a late assignment?

To Quatre's amazement Heero leant over and kissed Duo lightly on the forehead. Quatre had never seen Heero do anything even remotely similar. Even Wufei looked ready to pass out.

"Thank you Duo," he said softly before leaving the room. Quatre didn't want to know where he was going.

"What was that about?" Quatre asked no one in particular and Wufei just shrugged in reply. They were both staring at the door, stunned at Heero's actions.

"I think Heero is finally coming to his senses," Wufei suddenly said, walking back over to Quatre's bed and lying down.

Quatre wasn't sure what Wufei meant. He turned all his attention back to Duo.

"Wufei, is there anything that makes the pain less?"

Wufei was quiet for a while. He suddenly stood and went to the small bar fridge under Trowa's desk. There was a tiny freezer in the top of the fridge and he pulled out some ice.

"If you can warm his skin somehow, then run ice over the red lines...It helps to even out the temperatures. That's what hurts the most. The two extremes."

Quatre took the ice and nodded in thanks. He was not sure how to go about performing the task though. He decided there was only one way to do it. Pulling back the cover Quatre carefully undid Duo's shirt, cutting it off his body when he realised he couldn't remove it without taking off the restraints, which he refused to do after the latest episode. He then crawled into the bed, lifting Duo into his lap, nestling Duo's head under his chin. He pulled the blanket up around Duo's stomach then picked up the ice. Starting at the top of Duo's head Quatre began the long task of tracing the lines.

In time all the ice melted. Quatre wasn't ready to leave Duo alone and instead, leaning against the headboard, he fell asleep.

End Chapter Four.