Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Psionic Saga ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six.

Lunch was uncomfortable. They had left Quatre with Duo and headed for the boarder's lunch hall, desperate to keep up appearances. It had been Heero's idea, reasoning that if they were going to discover why they were been targeted they could not afford to let the school authorities know they were been targeted at all. Subsequently several elaborate lies had been carefully constructed to keep them all within school rules but out of class until it was absolutely necessary.

Heero stabbed at the strange looking slop that was meant to be his lunch and felt his stomach squirm. Usually Duo's chatter distracted him from the mess on his plate long enough to force it down his throat. Without even Quatre's quiet chatter all there was to focus on was the food and not one of them was enjoying it. Refusing to let it get to him, Heero pushed aside what he really thought and ate it like his last meal. Wufei and Trowa reacted to his decision and took to their own plates in a similar fashion.

"Heero!"

Heero barely even flinched. Wufei and Trowa cringed and sunk lower in their chairs as Relena Peacecraft, sister of the very man who seemed intent on putting them all out of commission came striding out of nowhere and slammed her hands down on the table beside Heero's lunch. The plate lurched and Heero was glad he had devoured most of its contents, fearing he would otherwise be carrying them in his lap.

"Where have you been? The teacher said you were sick!"

Heero tried to imagine which teacher had been stupid enough to believe he was sick. In all his time at the college Heero had only once taken a day off, and that had been at the nurses request so he could take care of Duo after the boy nearly blew his head off with one of his prank toys.

"I was not feeling well," was his stoic reply.

Relena snorted, very much aware Heero was lying. In fact there was a peculiar glint to her eye that said she knew something more than she was telling but Heero could not figure it out. He sat perfectly still and observed, careful not to give the impression he was aware of anything, while even the way the door clicked shut on the opposite side of the room was louder than a gunshot to his opened hearing.

Relena was excited. Very excited. She was also cold, indicated by the way her skin was slightly raised by hundreds of tiny goosebumps and she shivered a little, yet she was not feeling the cold, as if it were a part of her. She was tapping her foot, a little nervous and Heero watched her gaze fall on Wufei. Her breath was slightly heavier as she took in the faded red lines.

"Maybe you have all been a little ill after all, hmm?"

Heero gave her his best death stare but Relena ignored it, as she always had and always would, no doubt.

"Are you going to the gym this afternoon?" Relena turned her full attention back to Heero, seemingly disregarding the others but Heero couldn't help but notice the way her pupils shifted slightly to see the lines on Wufei's skin one last time. Was that pride in her dark eyes?

"I always go to the gym in the afternoon." A standard answer. Nothing more and nothing less than Relena would expect.

"You didn't go yesterday," Relena pointed out cheerfully. "Nor the day before that."

It was not surprising Relena knew he had been vacant from the gym. Relena matched her schedule to Heero's and spent the whole two gym hours staring at him. It made Heero a little nervous, not that he would ever admit it, and it made him very annoyed, which in the end was the only reason he hadn't told her to rack off. Being annoyed made for a rather impressive work out.

"I'm going to the gym." Heero stood, picking up his plate and heading for the trash bar. He was extremely aware of Relena, hands on hips, watching him walk away, a slight pout on her face. He heard her breathing grow heavier as she happily skipped away to her own lunch table where her usual compatriots, Hilde, Dorothy and Noin, were chattering wildly about something he really didn't want to think about.

The trash bar was a long table filled with holes to dump any scraps in and shelves to stack your dirty plate on so they could be slipped straight into the washing machines. Heero disposed of the small amount left in his bowl, stacked his plate with the others and strode from the room. Just before the door snicked shut he saw Wufei and Trowa rise as one to follow.

And so it starts…

Heero returned to the dorm, to his own empty room. He grabbed his gym bag, shoved some clean clothes and a towel inside and left as quickly as he had come. The room was too quiet, the manga mountain untended and forlorn. A silence had fallen in that place and Heero was determined to make someone pay.

The walk to the clearing was short, quickened by his lengthy strides. He had to make sure he arrived at the south wall on time and knew he was cutting it fine. Wufei and Trwoa were only giving him an hour after he left the lunch room.

The clearing was abandoned, as Heero had known it would be. He walked to the rock Duo usually hid in and found several small parts Duo had discarded.

How did you make it Baka, and why? Did you know?

Heero shook his head and marched from the clearing, tossing the extra parts back into Duo's hidey hole. If Duo decided he wanted them he would know where to find them. For now Heero had much more important things to think of.

It took nearly twenty minutes to reach the south wall. Heero arrived without a minute to spare and was vaguely aware of Trowa's lean form standing by the window on the second floor. If the need arose Trowa could tumble easily from that height with minimum injury, giving Wufei time to use the stairs…

Heero opened his senses as he had in the lunch room. The wind was a high whistling that plastered all sound and the sun was too bright, hurting his eyes and forcing him to squint a little, but it was worth it. He sensed three figures in the woods to his right as he walked along the south wall of the school and there were more ahead. Their breathing varied from a calm nervousness to contagious excitement. Heero sensed no fear.

"Come and get me," he whispered under his breath and it seemed they read his mind for they struck.

The ones ahead came first, two strong males who each grabbed one of his arms. Heero tried to break free and realised he couldn't. The grip was vice-like and seemed to freeze his muscles. Wufei had warned him about this and Heero was prepared. He used an old mental trick to switch of his brain's attachment to the body and mentally turned around. His body remained where it was until Heero once again flicked the switch and like a huge coiled spring his body snapped around to fit where his mind thought it should be. The movement shocked the men holding him and they released him, slightly stunned. Heero didn't wait, snapping one across the jaw and loosening the hood that covered his face. A strand of silvery hair escaped.

Bingo.

Furious, Heero went to hit him again but the other male grabbed his ankles and anchored him to the ground. Heero began the process of mentally switching off when a fierce cold exploded from a gentle feminine touch on his wrist. A familiar feminine touch. Cursing himself for not trusting his instincts Heero looked up at the sky and said as loudly as he could "why doesn't it ever rain frogs?"

One of the hooded figures was so completely startled they burst into a rain of feminine giggles. Heero did not find it amusing. It was the indication Trowa and Wufei had been waiting for; they now knew they were needed. There was a soft thud nearby and Heero knew Trowa had landed.

One of the hooded figures hissed loudly and suddenly Heero was released by all but one slender hold.

"We will have you," Relena whispered in his ear. "We'll have you all."

The touch left the side of his face, that ice-cold burning touch, and the hooded figures fled into the trees. Heero touched his wrist and then his cheek, marvelling at the numbness there. He could barely move and the pain was excruciating…

And they hadn't even touched me properly…Duo…

Shaking his head, Heero turned to Trowa and Wufei as they came bounding toward him. They shared a knowing glance before Heero looked back to where the figures had fled.

"The cold one," he said in a voice devoid of emotion, "is Relena Peacecraft."

Trowa and Wufei accepted this small piece of information and they all headed back toward the gym in silence. Heero had no intention of going to the gym. He wanted to lie down and deal with the pain roaring in his ears, centred in his cheek and wrist. How could anything be so…cold?

Trowa knocked on Quatre's door but there was no reply. Trowa used his spare key to get in and they found a note on Quatre's desk.

Duo's awake. He knows who they are. Come to the library. Q.

End Chapter Six