Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Warrior Children ❯ Punishment ( Chapter 32 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Cousin D 
Doctor J gets what's coming to him.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.30.2007 | Pages: 7 | Words: 9.4K | Visits: 221 | Status: Completed
Doctor J gets what's coming to him.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.30.2007 | Pages: 7 | Words: 9.4K | Visits: 221 | Status: Completed
Chapter 32: Punishment
Rajura-
Rajura wouldn’t have presumed to know the boy well, but he understood, by the reactions his friends were giving - mostly wide-eyed caution - that what they had seen of him earlier was not normal for him.
The tall, narrow boy eased Quatre to his feet and took a step backwards. Everyone stared at the boy instead of their captured enemy. It made sense, to Rajura’s practical mind. After all, the old man was already bound and helpless. The boy, who’d done his best to tangle with an enraged Anubisu wearing the shape of a massive tiger, was surely more of a threat. He, after all, was free.
“And how are you feeling?” Rajura reluctantly spoke before anyone else when it appeared that no one would take the lead.
Quatre smiled. “I’m just fine. Thank you for asking, ‘Jura.”
The nick-name stunned Rajura more than anything else they’d seen that night - more even than the metal giants called Gundams.
When no one spoke for a moment, Quatre opened his eyes wide and asked, innocently, "Is there a problem? You all seem rather tense. Ohhh… ” His attention suddenly shifted as he realized that he’d been shot and he leaned over to examine the hole in his thigh. The flow of blood had slowed but had left a faintly shining mess on the black outfit he wore. What a strange outfit it was, too. Skintight and completely indecent.
Rajura was offended on Noin-san’s behalf, but pleased Kay was nowhere around. He was also embarrassed for Quatre. The boy was far too young to be dressing so scandalously. Rajura decided that it was surely the influence of the man they’d captured according to Noin-san’s accusations.
Quatre poked his finger into the hole in his thigh. Instead of being horrified at the dark, drying blood, Quatre seemed fascinated and poked his finger in deeper until they all heard a squishing noise.
Touma gagged. "Don't do that, Kitty! You'll get an infection!"
Quatre didn't answer, but pulled his finger out, now covered in blood. He straightened up and stared at his blood-coated finger with fascination, then smiled and held out the fingers towards Anubisu. "Hungry? You’ve used up a lot of energy, haven’t you?”
Anubisu dumbly shook his head.
Quatre shrugged and stuck the finger in his own mouth, sucking off the blood like it was the sweetest of candies and licked his lips when he’d finished. "Yummy." Finally he turned to Treize-san and Zechs-san and all of the other ningens. "You can leave now. You’re not needed." Quatre smiled, but it was so unlike his normal, innocent smile. This smile was wicked and sinister - familiar. "You need an expert in cases like this." There was something dark about Quatre as he looked around at them. Quatre fixed his eyes on Naaza. “You look so sad, sweet Naotoki.” Quatre laughed and raised one hand to tenderly stroke the stunned Naaza's cheek, running his thumb over Naaza's jaw.
Rajura choked at the name. Even more stunning than Quatre’s use of Rajura’s nick-name was his use of Naaza’s true name. Naotoki was the name given to Naaza by his mother, long before he’d been taken into Arago’s service. It was a name only his three brothers knew and they would never have told an outsider. In fact, the only one that ever called him Naotoki was…
“Sh’ten?” Naaza took a faltering step back, confused and a little scared at the use of his true name. "‘Ten-chan? How...?"
There was a dual gasp from Ryou and Duo and they stepped forward, but hesitated in going right to Quatre. Ryou put his arms around himself. It was Duo - naturally - who spoke. "Mama Sh'ten?"
Quatre smirked at the two boys over his shoulder. “My boys.” He moved away from Naaza to walk around doctor J. "You all look so surprised to see me. I would have thought you’d be used to it by now. Yes, I am Sh’ten.”
Ryou and Duo moved closer to one another until their knuckles brushed and they seemed to gain strength from the touch. “Mama Sh’ten,” Ryou said. “Are you staying this time?”
It was impossible to miss the alarmed reaction from both Touma and Trowa.
“No,” Sh’ten answered. “I’m just borrowing this body. Mine’s of no more use. I was given the gift of more time and I wanted to help. I wanted to help with this,” He reached out and lay Quatre’s slim hand on the top of doctor J’s head. “Don't worry about Quatre. I'll give him back in a little while." He likely meant that for those, like Trowa and Touma, who looked concerned for Quatre, but didn‘t look away from doctor J. "Quatre, due to his recent experiences, seems to be very sensitive to all aspects of life and otherwise. That is what makes this whole… experience possible.”
There was no link, Rajura sadly realized. He reached out, but there was only emptiness where Sh’ten should have been in his mind. No bond at all to prove whether or not the person inhabiting Quatre was Sh’ten. Rajura didn’t doubt it, though. Even if he hadn’t known that Naaza was Naotoki, Rajura felt that he would have known.
"Give Quatre back," Trowa ordered.
Sh’ten laughed. “Or what? Will you kill Quatre's body? I'm already dead, so I really don't care. Perhaps you’ll try to torture me in order to force my compliance.“ His eyes sparkled. “I’m afraid I haven’t time enough for that. Besides, ‘Za-chan gets jealous. Don’t look so grim. It’s not that bad. Your Quatre isn’t hurt, nor will he be from me. Quatre needed a rest, anyway. He doesn't need this body at the moment. I do."
"Why?" Touma asked, worried. His fingers twitched at his sides and his brow was furrowed deeply.
Sh'ten stared at them all, looking them up and down as if he couldn't get enough of them. "I wanted to see you all before it was to late. This is my last opportunity to speak with you before I move on." He paused for a tense moment. Then, with a bright smile, said, "Enough of this depressing rubbish." Sh'ten rubbed his hands together eagerly and turned his gaze to doctor J. "How about fun before I leave?”
It made Rajura laugh. "This is the man who hurt Seiji and Heero and, now, Quatre and Noin. He’s all yours.”
Sh'ten chuckled. "As my last act on this world, and an effort to bring a new meaning to the word 'pain', I'll conduct this punishment." His eyes took a decidedly evil light. "This will be my best work ever. A true masterpiece."
Heero-
"Just let me get some toys." Sh’ten said before leaving the room. He didn’t doubt that the one speaking was Sh’ten. He had no reason to think Quatre would lie, so there was no reason to disbelieve his words.
It really didn't matter.
He was losing his courage, rapidly.
Heero swallowed, not for the first time since arriving at doctor J’s hide-out, and inched backwards. It wasn’t hard. No one was paying him any attention. They were all too intent on Sh’ten. Heero could feel his heart thudding painfully against his ribs. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were just going to retrieve their missing friend, that was all. They should have returned to Kushranada’s home. They shouldn’t have come hunting for doctor J. Heero shouldn’t have, anyway. He knew he should have left them when Anubisu had furiously demanded they find the one responsible for this evil. He should have found some excuse to stay away. But he hadn’t because Duo had wanted to go in.
Doctor J groaned and raised his head. He took only a moment to take in the sight before his eyes went to Heero and he snapped, "Heero, kill them all!”
Something inside Heero seemed to jump at the order. Heero jerked his gun out of the holster and took aim at the first person he saw: Seiji.
Everyone froze.
Seiji did nothing. He didn’t even look surprised.
'Move Seiji. Get away, fight. Do something!' Heero thought desperately.
Seiji just stood there, his face perfectly still and emotionless, just as he'd been trained.
'Please, move!'
Seiji stared at Heero. "I won't fight you, Heero."
"Kill him, Heero! That's an order!" Doctor J screamed.
Heero started to pull back on the trigger. It was an easy kill, Seiji was only about three feet away from him. The mission would be complete.
Flashback-
"Don't cry, Heero. I'll protect you."
"I'll always be with you, Heero."
"You won't let them hurt me, will you, Heero?"
"It's okay that you're scared of spiders. I'm scared of the dark. Don't tell doctor J, all right?"
"You're my best friend."
End Flashback-
Everything slipped into the right place. Like a puzzle piece that finally fit into the correct spot, Heero understood what was right and wrong. It had always escaped him, before. There had never been right or wrong. There was pain and there was fear. Heero understood those. Right and wrong were things he’d never had to think about. Orders were orders and didn’t require thought. All he had to do was act.
Seiji, though…. Seiji knew what was right. He stood before Heero’s gun without fear.
He trusted Heero.
Seiji believed in Heero.
Slowly, Heero turned away from Seiji, his finger still on the trigger of his gun, and took aim at doctor J. The doctor was so helpless, tied to that chair, the perfect target.
"Heero?" Doctor J started shaking. "What are you doing? I'm not your target. Your mission is to kill them." His tone turned harder. "You will not kill me, Heero. You are mine. You can not kill me."
Heero felt himself waver. He belonged to doctor J, he had for almost as long as he could remember. Doctor J gave him everything from clothes to food and a purpose in life. 'But I don't like doctor J. He hurts me and he let those other people hurt me.' Heero's gun started to shake along with his hand. ‘Can’t hurt me if he’s dead.’
"You must obey orders, Heero. You must obey."
Heero looked at Seiji from the corner of his eye, but Seiji was still frozen, refusing to help in the decision.
Doctor J leaned forward as much as he was able to. "You can not disobey, Heero."
'I can!' Heero's hand stopped shaking when he met Duo's eyes. 'I can disobey!'
Doctor J seemed to sense Heero's sudden resolve and licked his lips, nervously. "Put your gun away, Heero. I only do what I have to for your own good. I want you to be strong. You never wanted to be weak, did you?"
"I hate you." Heero felt his heart stop for just a moment. "I hate you. You hurt me. You hurt Seiji. You made me hurt people. I hate you." The words came out slow and in simple, childish statements. He felt his throat seize up as he forced out the words he’d wanted to say for so long.
Doctor J started sweating. His mouth tightened.
Heero didn't stop, his eyes took on a kind of frantic gleam and his teeth clenched. "I want to kill you. I want to make you feel pain. I want you gone and I want you hurt... I want... I want... "
"Don't do this, Heero." Doctor J said, sounding more desperate by the second. "You won't be happy if you kill me. You will be very unhappy without your orders. How can you survive without me? There will be no one to tell you what to do."
"I will choose how to be happy!" Heero shouted. "I will chose what to do and I will chose how to live. I will make my own choices!" Heero spun around suddenly and grabbed Duo by the front of his shirt to pulling him in for a kiss.
Duo-
'... ' Duo's mind stalled in shock until Heero started pulling away. 'Oh, no you don't!'
Heero-
'He doesn't like it,' Heero thought miserably when Duo stiffened in his arms and just froze. 'I should have known. Why would he even want to touch me?' Heero, not wanting to upset Duo, began pulling away from the kiss.
Duo’s hands took Heero’s head and held him firmly in place as he stuck his tongue in Heero's mouth. Hero was absolutely shocked when Duo ran his tongue along Heero's teeth.
'... ' Heero's mind stalled. 'Maybe he does like it.'
Seiji and Ryou-
YES! IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Rajura-
‘Sigh… children. So overdramatic.’
Heero-
After several long minutes, Heero pulled away from Duo, breathless and dizzy.
His first kiss…
Heero re-aimed his gun at doctor J ... but he couldn't fire. Frowning, Heero tried to tightened his finger on the trigger, but couldn‘t. He knew what he wanted, so why couldn't he just do it? Raising his other hand to grip his gun with both hands, Heero tried yet again, but his finger simply wouldn't move.
"S-Seiji? I... I can't." Heero hated how weak his voice sounded. Slowly, the gun fell from his hands, landing on the floor with a loud thud.
Seiji put his arm around Heero's shoulders. "It's all right."
Heero's chest felt tight and his eyes were burning. A tear ran down his cheek and splashed onto Seiji's hand. Heero raised a hand to his eye and touched the wet trail the tear had left behind. Crying? Tears? No, he hadn't cried since Seiji had been taken away from him. He never cried. Never.
Duo wordlessly threw his arms around Heero, hugging him tightly.
"It's okay to cry." Seiji whispered, patting Heero's hair. Seiji and Duo pulled Heero slightly, taking him further away from doctor J.
"I told you, Heero, you couldn't do it." Doctor J smiled. "Release me, now."
"Now, don't be so hasty to leave. You don't want to be rude, do you?" Sh’ten was back with a thin smile and his arms full of... things. "Just because Heero doesn't feel quite up to this, doesn't mean we have to cancel the festivities. I'm sure you and I can have just as much fun without him." Sh’ten shifted his eyes to Anubisu. "Put him on the table, 'Nubie. I want him to be tied spread eagle, Rajura, 'Za-chan." The three Ma-Sho came forward and did as they were told.
Rajura turned to Treize. "I think it's time that everyone left. Please, take Noin-san somewhere safe so she can rest. This is no place for a lady. The children have no place here, either. Everyone should leave but Heero and Seiji. It's their right to be here and help."
Treize gave Rajura a suspicious look. "Are you going to kill him? I need him to stand trial for treason as well as kidnapping and various other crimes."
Rajura met his gaze evenly. "Forget about him. When Sh'ten is finished, there won't be anything left."
Treize thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Zechs, let's go home."
Zechs obediently followed, carrying Noin.
Seiji looked like he wanted to go with his sister, but he kept looking at doctor J with undisguised hatred. Ryou put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to stay?"
Seiji nodded.
"I'll go take care of your sister for you." Ryou gave Seiji and peck on the cheek before running after Treize and Zechs. Before he'd gone very far, though, Ryou stopped and turned back. He looked at Sh’ten, not Seiji.
The terrible grief in his eyes was painful. "I miss you, Mama Sh'ten. It's not fair. My parents died. My granma died. Now you died. I... I thought you'd live forever and I wouldn't have to worry about losing you."
"I died for you, Ryou. Don't be sad about it, I don't regret my death. It was glorious." Sh'ten just smiled and kissed Ryou on the cheek. "Go, Ryou-chan. I don't want you to see what I'm going to do here."
"But... " Duo stepped objected, keeping one arm around Heero's shoulders.
Sh'ten held up a hand to stall any argument. "Duo-chan, you know I'm right. Go with your brother and take care of everyone."
Duo tried to look angry, but he ended up switching his hug from Heero to Sh'ten. "I love you, Mama Sh'ten. Why did you have to die?" He was crying freely and didn't seem at all embarrassed about it.
Sh'ten put a hand on the side of Duo's face and looked right in his eyes. "Because my family needed me and because I love you all. I would die again, if I had to. I'm so proud to be your mama." Sh'ten told him with a smile.
Duo suddenly burst away from Sh'ten and ran to Heero who was now standing with Ryou. Apparently, Seiji had entrusted Heero to Ryo while he stayed here to help with doctor J. Together with their arms around each other, Duo and Heero left the apartment with their friends, Treize, and Zechs who carried Noin. That left Sh'ten looking at Wufei and Trowa who'd stayed behind. "You two had better... "
"No," Wufei answered. "We are staying."
"May I ask why?"
Trowa gave him a pointed look. "I want to make sure Quatre will be all right. He wouldn't like what you're planning to do."
"Rest assured," Sh'ten said. "Quatre is fast asleep and he will not remember any of this when he wakes."
Wufei said, "We have as much right as Seiji and Heero to be here. We were all trained in similar manners and, we've just found out, that we were betrayed by this one." He jabbed a finger at doctor J. "I want to be here to see justice done."
Sh'ten laughed. "Dear child. What is going to happen here will be justice, but I seriously doubt you will appreciate it as much as you think you will. I am not going to execute this man; that would be to merciful. I am going to cause him as much pain as I possibly can. I am very good at this and his pain will last several hours."
Wufei pointed at Heero and Seiji. "Their pain lasted almost ten years from what I've been told. I don't think even you could make doctor J suffer enough."
Sh'ten gave up trying to persuade Wufei and Trowa, but then started to explain what, exactly, he was going to do to doctor J. After about two minutes of listening to him, Wufei fled the room with Trowa following quickly after.
Doctor J protested loudly the entire time, but no one tried to stifle him. They let him rant and rave, struggling pathetically to free himself.
While that was happening, Sh'ten moved another, smaller table closer and began to set out his 'toys' on it. Heero saw everything from small butter knives to more ominous toys included a large cleaver, a hand saw, a chain about seven feet long, several large fishing hooks, and jars of... stuff.
"Don't feel to badly about not being able to kill doctor J," Sh'ten told Heero as he organized his equipment. "You've been under his influence for a long time. I don't suppose it's easy to break away in a day. You'll get better. For right now, I think it's best that you just watch. If it's too much for you, just step outside. That goes for you, too, Seiji."
Sh'ten gleefully looked around at all the computers, searching for something. Finally, he smiled when he saw a bunch of wires sticking out from one of the computers. With one tug, all the wires came out, with loose ends and sparks flying for just a second. "Oh, yes. These will do nicely." Sh'ten's eyes seemed to glow with an unholy light.
Rajura-
Rajura had no more doubt that the spirit using Quatre's body was Sh'ten. The innocent-looking boy could be none other than Rajura's wicked little brother. Once the irritating doctor had been efficiently tied down with thick rope Sh'ten had found, Rajura, Anubisu, and Naaza backed away from the table to give Sh'ten working room.
Sh'ten turned Quatre's sweet blue eyes on doctor J who stared at him, terrified. "As you may have guessed," Sh'ten said pleasantly. "I am evil. I don't make any excuses for it, it's just one of the things that makes me what I am. Frankly, I enjoy what I am. It gives me a thrill every time I see a look of pain cross someone's face." Sh'ten picked up a length of the wire he'd just ripped from one of the computers and stretched it between his hands. "I I‘m going to hurt you, now."
Doctor J's eyes fixated on Sh'ten, tracking him intently, as if he could think of a way to escape this situation. "There’s no need for this. I can compensate you… ”
Rajura asked, "You won’t be so unkind as to deny Sh’ten, will you? Sh'ten's been patient for a very long time, just waiting for a chance to revive his skills. Do you know what kind of Hell that is? To have your greatest joy denied for more than four centuries?" Rajura went to doctor J's side and squatted down so he could get closer to the man's face. "You're about to be given pain by a skilled artist." Rajura patted doctor J's cheek. "You should feel honored, really." Laughing softly, Rajura backed away again.
Sh'ten licked his lips, the wire now tightly wrapped around his hands, leaving about six inches between his hands. "Get those goggles off his face, Anubisu. I want to see his eyes."
Anubisu wordlessly complied, using his large hands to pull the goggles off.
Doctor J cried out when his face lurched forward at the tug. "No! They're implants, they don't come off!"
"Yes, they will.” Anubisu smirked. He pulled again and the goggles did, indeed, come off. With blood squirting off as they popped off. There was a thin line of blood outlining doctor J's eyes. "See," Anubisu dropped the goggles onto the floor. "That wasn't so hard was it?"
Doctor J panted and blinked his dark brown eyes rapidly. The skin around his eyes, that wasn't bleeding, was white as snow as it hadn't seen daylight in years. "There's no need for all this. I'm sure we can reach an agreement."
Anubisu, before moving away, dropped the goggles and leaned down over doctor J's face. He took a long lick of the blood around doctor J's eyes. Anubisu licked his lips and smiled. "You don't taste too good, to be honest. Honestly, you do human experimentation, torture small children, kill your own allies, and your blood isn't even good enough to drink. I wonder if you have any redeeming qualities at all."
With slow precision, Sh'ten took the wire in his hands and lay it carefully over doctor J's throat. Sh'ten yanked down hard, straining the wire across doctor J's throat.
A deep gagging from doctor J stifled any cry of pain he wanted to let out, but his frightened eyes bugged out and his face turned bright red almost instantly. Sh'ten held him like that for a minute, before abruptly releasing him and stepping away, almost staggering.
"Oh, yes." Sh'ten breathed heavily with a manic smile. "I liked that."
Naaza shifted uncomfortably next to Rajura. HE'S GETTING AROUSED WITH THIS, Naaza told Rajura, as if Rajura didn't know. I HOPE HE CAN KEEP HIMSELF FROM DOING ANYTHING... WEIRD.
YOU WISH, Rajura replied. YOU KNOW HE'S A PERVERT WHEN IT COMES TO THIS SORT OF THING.
Sh'ten was spasmodically tightening and releasing the wire around his hands and muttering to himself, "Mustn't be too fast. We want this to last as long as possible. Where to begin, oh where to begin?" Sh'ten seemed unfocused for a minute and Rajura realized that he'd never actually seen Sh'ten in action before. Yes, he'd seen his little brother do some truly awful things, but Sh'ten had always hinted that he could do better, or rather, worse.
Sh'ten never lost his focus on doctor J. "I think we’re alike, you and I. I enjoy pain. You enjoy pain. You must, or you wouldn't have hurt my little brother like you did. That proves you like causing pain. If you hadn't hurt my little brother, I wouldn't be hurting you now."
"No." Doctor J shook his head wildly. "I didn't know he was your brother. I swear I didn't know."
"Neither did I, at the time. Doesn't really matter though, now does it? This is now and he is my family. You hurt him so I will hurt you. Anubisu?"
"Yes?"
Sh'ten looked down at Quatre's thin, delicate body. "This body isn't strong enough to do what I want it to do. I want you to break his bones, starting from his toes and working up to his... ummm... working up to his hips. Yes, that should be good enough. Would you do that for me?"
"My pleasure." Anubisu cracked his knuckles and set to work. With the air of a professional, Anubisu took off doctor J's ankle length boots and black socks so he could see what he was doing.
"No!" Doctor J shouted, raising his head as much as possible and turning his eyes to Heero. "Heero, stop him! That's an order, you must obey!"
Heero moved forward slightly, obeying by habit, before Seiji wrapped his arms around Heero and held him tightly against his chest.
"Don't listen." Seiji said, not bothering to whisper. "Just don't listen. He's not important now." He leaned his chin over Heero's shoulder and in Seiji's arms, Heero relaxed slightly though his eyes never left the begging doctor J.
Anubisu broke doctor J's smallest toe and the old man let out a scream.
"Don't get so upset," Sh'ten said. "It's only one toe, after all. We have a long way to go."
In a calm, easy manner, Anubisu broke each toe in succession. When he was finished, he moved to doctor J's feet, crushing the bones with a hammer Sh'ten had found. He moved onto the ankles, both bones in the lower legs, both kneecaps and, with the hammer again, both upper legs. For the hipbones, Anubisu simply put both of his fists together and smashed down.
Doctor J passed out at that point and Sh'ten pouted.
"Well, that's no fun. 'Za-chan, heal him for me, please."
Naaza didn't reply, but walked to doctor J's side and looked down on him in contempt. Then Naaza spit on doctor J, his spittle sizzling where it hit doctor J's black and blue foot. Naaza kept spitting on him, occasionally slapping the man with a hand, to wipe his secretions off on doctor J. At one particularly bad break, Naaza extended his fangs to their full length, nearly two inches, and let his venom drip freely out.
While Naaza often healed his family with his burning touch, he would make it as pleasant as humanly possible, with soft touches and kisses. Doctor J deserved none of that concern.
"It's not working," Sh'ten complained, irritably. "I want him to wake up. I want him to feel this."
"It'll just take time," Naaza told him. "A little waiting won't hurt."
"But it might. I don't have long before I have to leave." He didn't look at Naaza's hurt expression. "I want this to last, but I want it done before my time is up. This is the last time I'll be able to come back."
"How do you know?" Anubisu asked.
"I was told that. This is the last time I'll be able to see you and I want everyone to remember me. Anyway, Seiji, would you mind giving it a try?"
Seiji nodded and stepped up next to Naaza. His mind was filled with the memories of everything doctor J had done to him and Heero over the years. The dark room loomed impressively in the forefront. Seiji healed doctor J enough that he woke up and all this bones were healed, but Seiji himself was exhausted afterwards and had to be caught by Heero before he fell.
"Ah, you're with us again." Sh'ten clapped his hands together cheerfully when doctor J woke. "Heero, please get Seiji a chair so he can be comfortable. Let's get a move on, shall we? I think next... " He paused for dramatic effect. "'Za-chan, would you like to have a go?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Naaza grinned just as Rajura took Heero by the arm.
"I think you and Seiji had best wait over here." Rajura said leading them to a corner of the large room, away from doctor J. "I know you deserve to be here, but I don't want you too close when Naaza gets going." He stood with them, partially blocking Heero's view of whatever Naaza was doing.
Doctor J's screaming went on for several minutes and the smell of burning flesh intensified. Rajura saw thin wisps of smoke coming from doctor J's body and was more than a little disturbed by what he saw. Not that his brothers were torturing doctor J, that was expected and he was used to that sort of thing. He was disturbed that neither Heero nor Seiji seemed upset by what they saw. They should be at least a 'little' upset.
"Doctor J used to make us watch things," Seiji said, as if he knew what Rajura was thinking. "We watched videos of people killing each other. Once we had to sit completely still while two rabid dogs ripped each other apart in front of us. He killed a baby in front of us, at one time. It was crying and he used a scalpel to cut open its ribcage. It was still crying when he made us touch its beating heart. He called it desensitization. So whatever we had to see or do on a mission wouldn't make us falter."
It was the most Rajura had ever heard Seiji say at one time and even Rajura, who'd seen and done so much in his long life, was horrified.
"Rajura," Sh'ten called out. "I want some more toys. Have anything in mind?"
Giving Seiji a pat on the arm, Rajura answered. "Oh, I think I can come up with something." Rajura raised one hand and closed his eyes, envisioning what would be most useful to Sh'ten.
"Oh, 'Jura!" Sh'ten flushed with excitement when Rajura was finished decorating the room. "You are just too good to me!"
The room was brighter, suddenly, giving light enough for doctor J to clearly see what was going to be done to him. From the ceiling hung long, thick chains, each with a barbed hook on the end. For effect, there were now windows that looked out onto bright, sunny fields of wildflowers. The table where Sh'ten had put his found 'toys' was now accompanied by three others, all surrounding doctor J, and all filled with 'toys'.
For a moment, Sh'ten went from table to table, inspecting what Rajura had given him to work with.
"I don't see anything." Seiji said, looking around.
"You aren't meant to," Anubisu answered, taking Rajura's place next to the two boys. "Rajura doesn't want to corrupt you any more than necessary. Doctor J's already done a pretty thorough job on you and we don't want it to get any worse."
"Can you see it?" Seiji asked.
"Yes. But I'm already corrupted so it doesn't matter."
"We've seen bad things before. It can't be worse than what doctor J put us through."
Anubisu gave Seiji a penetrating look. "Doctor J is human and nothing more. You haven't seen evil until you've been in the service of a demon for a few centuries. Just relax and be thankful you don't have to see this."
Rajura knew that, to Seiji and Heero, it looked like nothing was happening. To them, Sh'ten was looking around at empty space and doctor J was afraid of absolutely nothing. Everyone else, though, saw Sh'ten pick up a silver spoon.
"What... what is that for?" Doctor J asked in a shaking voice.
"You took Seiji's eye. I think I want yours. I remember someone telling me once, something about and eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I approve of that philosophy." Sh'ten leaned over doctor J, with his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth and he put the illusion spoon to doctor J's left eye.
"No! Let me go!"
Sh'ten stifled a giggle when he angled the spoon down and scooped out the wet, quivering eyeball. Doctor J almost passed out again, but Naaza kept him awake, with another of his healing slaps across the face. Sh'ten held the eyeball in the spoon, bringing it up close to his face. "Nice to SEE you." Sh'ten giggled again, at his bad pun, before he gave the eye a quick lick. In his, or rather, Quatre's bare hand Sh'ten dropped the eyeball and rolled it around for a minute before he poked it with one finger, amused. He looked like a small child playing with a new toy, the way he seemed fascinated by the eyeball. "I want to keep it."
"You can't," Rajura told him firmly. "This isn't real, remember. He'll still be whole when you're done with him."
"That's what you think." Sh'ten smirked at Rajura. "I'm just getting warmed up."
Sh'ten cut off doctor J's pant legs before picking up a large carving knife, similar to what one might use to carve a turkey. "The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone," Sh'ten said in a sing-song voice as he tapped doctor J's foot with the knife and moved it to the ankle. "Duo taught me this song, you know." He said in a conversational voice before continuing to sing. "The ankle bone's connected to the... the... hmm, I seem to have forgotten. I suppose I'll just have to find out for myself." The knife slid into doctor J's calf muscle easily, with a large squirt of blood that told Rajura Sh'ten had managed to hit an artery. Sh'ten didn't even pause, but continued to carve around the bone until all the muscles and skin of doctor J's lower leg fell off in a sloppy mess. "Oh, yes. I remember. It's the leg bone that comes next. Silly me."
Rajura felt the urge to vomit, but held it back. He'd known this would be bad and he had to keep the illusion steady or he'd ruin all Sh'ten's hard work.
Seiji-
After a while, Sh'ten tired of the illusion and he wanted to do some 'real' work. He had Rajura cast off the illusion so he could use a paring knife he'd found somewhere.
Sh'ten peeled doctor J like an apple, methodically removing the skin from doctor J's now naked body. Seiji had to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from throwing up and Heero turned a pale shade of green. That was when Heero and Seiji reached their breaking point and had to leave the room.
Outside, in the hallway, cut off from doctor J's screams, they found Trowa and Wufei waiting silently.
"Are they finished?" Trowa asked.
Seiji shook his head. "Just getting started, I believe."
Wufei's eyes widened. "Just getting started? They've been in there for an hour!"
Again, silence and everyone seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts. The doctors' Quatre had killed before had been drug down the hall, but Trowa and Wufei kept glimpsing at the bodies out of the corners of their eyes. The unspoken, but all-important question, weighted heavily between them. 'What do we do now?' For most of their lives, the doctors had controlled the four boys, dictated their purposes in life.
"I'm going to stay with my auntie and my cousins," Wufei said at last. "I'm not going to help start a war, now. They already lied to us about so much and we shouldn't do anything until we know the truth. I don't even know what's real, anymore. I'll help run the restaurant."
"I agree," Trowa said. "If we find out that Treize and the Alliance really are evil, then we can destroy them. Until then, I should go back to the circus." While he said this, though, his gaze was firmly fixed on the door behind which Quatre's body was being used to do terrible, terrible things. Everyone could tell that he didn't want to leave his new friend.
Finally, everyone looked at Heero, who'd said nothing, but Heero looked away quickly and Seiji knew what the problem was. Heero had no where to go. No family to take care of him and teach him how to survive without doctor J. It didn't matter, Seiji would have Heero stay with him until Heero could do it on his own.
"What about you, Seiji?" Trowa asked.
Seiji gave him a flat look. "I no longer have my Gundam. I destroyed it when I reached Earth, so I'm no longer a pilot. I will stay with my family." Not only Luc, but also Ryou, Touma, Shin, and Xiu. Seiji couldn't imagine living without them.
"That's a good point," Wufei said. "What do we do with the Gundams? We can't just leave them around for anyone to find. Even if there's not going to be a war, we have to protect them. It would be almost impossible for us all to find hiding places for them."
No one seemed to know an answer for that question.
Still, the image of what his 'brothers' were doing in the other room made Seiji's stomach turn and he put a hand in his pocket to grab the precious orb. With only slight effort, Seiji reached out and touched the minds of Ryou, Touma, Shin, and Xiu. They wrapped around him like a comforting blanket he'd once had when he was very little and Seiji let himself be surrounded by their love.
Naaza-
When it was over, doctor J was dead. What had been his body was little more than a bloody lump on the table, not even recognizable as a human. Sh'ten had made even himself proud with what he'd done to doctor J.
"It's over." Sh'ten wiped his bloody hands on Quatre's black suit. "I have to leave now."
The three who remained with him knew this had been coming and, strangely, Naaza didn't feel so terribly sad, this time.
Sh'ten came to a stop before Rajura, looking up at the taller man. "Jirougorou," Rajura stiffened when Sh'ten used his true name. "You are the greatest teacher I've ever had the honor of knowing. You suffered with your power more than any of us ever have and you had to live alone for so many years. You are the one who spared us that suffering and made us into a family. I have never known anyone as strong as you." Sh'ten stood on his tiptoes and put a hand behind Rajura's head, digging his fingers into Rajura's long white hair. With a gentle pull, Sh'ten brought Rajura's head down to his own and they kissed firmly. When Sh'ten finally released him Rajura was crying silently and turned away from everyone.
Sh'ten moved to Anubisu next and took his hand, rubbing it between Quatre's two small hands. "Kujuurou, I love you dearer than any brother ever could. You were so afraid of yourself and you never told anyone. So afraid that you'd hurt one of us and you tried to keep us out of your heart. I wish I could have helped you more to deal with what you are." He smiled wickedly and raised one of Anubisu's hands to kiss the savage claws that still replaced his fingernails. "I'll regret never being able to run with you, again. Under the midnight moon of the Ningen Sekai, with a cool summer breeze at our backs." Sh'ten put his hand behind Anubisu's neck and pulled Anubisu into a kiss, just as he had with Rajura. It was a deep kiss and Anubisu ended up, as Rajura had, crying.
Finally, he came to Naaza, whose arms were wrapped tightly around himself. Naaza spoke first. "Who's going to help me when it come time for me to shed?" Silly thing to say, but it was the first thing that popped into his head. It was almost time for his skin to shed and Sh'ten had always helped. For centuries it had been Sh'ten who would sit with him and read to him while waiting for the pain filled hours to pass until the skin peeled off, just like any other snake shed its skin.
"The others will rub and oil your skin," Sh'ten said quietly. "You know how to make the oil and Rajura's hands are very soft."
"You're hands are softer."
The two stood in silence for a moment. "I'll never forget you, Naotoki." Sh'ten seemed on the verge of tears. "If I could... I wish... " Sh'ten was at a loss for words and just stepped in to hug Naaza. Quatre's body was so much smaller than Naaza's and ended up with Sh'ten's cheek pressed against Naaza's chest. "I'll always love you."
Naaza bent down at tilted Sh'ten's face up and they kissed. Now, Sh'ten did let a few tears fall, but he quickly wiped them away once he stepped away from Naaza. He said nothing and gave them all a sad smile, but rolled his eyes up into his head and fell limply into Naaza's arms.
"He's gone," Naaza said, strangely calm. "He gone, again."
"Do you think he'll come back?" Anubisu asked softly, putting a hand on Quatre's hair.
Naaza shook his head. "I... I really don't know."
Doctor J-
Doctor J found himself standing in his computer room, the same room where he'd given Quatre to the Zero System and was absolutely overjoyed to find he was whole. There wasn't a scratch or even a splatter of blood on him anywhere. The boys who stood around looking at something on a table didn't see him and doctor J kept as quiet as he could, knowing that he'd finally escaped them.
Quatre, collapsed and being held in the arms of some man with green hair, had been the one who'd caused him so much pain. Doctor J swore to himself that he would see the boy was retrained - properly this time. After all, he owned Quatre. He owned all of them; they were his creations and the pride of his career.
"I wouldn't worry about Quatre too much, if I were you."
Doctor J whirled around to find a man looking at him. The man had long reddish brown hair and bright green eyes that sparkled as he looked at doctor J. "What are you talking about?" Doctor J asked cautiously. He was sure that he'd never seen this man before, even though there was something very familiar about him.
"You have other business to take care of. Those boys aren’t important to you anymore." The man was dressed strangely, in a dark green surcoat with gold trim. Underneath, he wore a kimono of solid green.
"Who are you?"
"Your guide." The man seemed to fine amusement in this. "I'm here to take you to where you belong. Do come with me, won't you?"
Something about the way he said that made doctor J suspicious. "Where do you think I belong, exactly."
"Why, your laboratory, naturally," The man answered with an innocent expression. The man took doctor J by the arm and pulled him toward a door.
"I don't remember that door." Doctor J said with a frown.
The man said nothing, but pulled doctor J persistently, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips the whole time.
Getting a sudden feeling that he didn't want the door to open, doctor J tried to stop the man from pulling him.
"There's nothing to worry about." The man told him, forcing him to walk forwards. "This is the entrance to your laboratory. Everything in there, you created. You're not afraid of what you made, are you?"
"What? No. No, certainly not." Well, that wasn't entirely true. At the moment, he wasn't sure he wanted to be alone with any of the boys he'd made. His pride wouldn't allow him to admit that. This stranger didn't know what had happened, after all. Strange, it had seemed so real and yet here he was without a mark on him. Doctor J reasoned that it must have been a dream or a hallucination of some kind.
"Good." The man's grin grew. "Then you won't mind being in your laboratory for a little while." In the stranger's hand there was a weapon, suddenly. A sickle attached to a chain with a spiked weight on the other end of the chain was in his hands and he pointed it at the door that suddenly swung open. "Why don't we step in?"
Once inside, doctor J paled.
"Now, I'm sure you haven't forgotten all your creations, the ones who came before your perfect soldier. I've learned a lot about you doctor J and I've learned that Heero, Seiji, and those other boys weren't your only creations. There were others, before your successes. The failures you threw away. The flawed experiments that were nothing more to you than mere set backs."
The laboratory was indeed just as doctor J remembered, but it was not exactly what he remembered. It was more like a mix between all the labs he'd used over the past twenty-three years. It was darkened, but doctor J could see enough to be afraid.
Eyes stared out at him and shadows moved in halting, jerky movements. Groans and moans echoed softly in the lab, pain filled sounds along with vague mutterings.
"Hurts. It hurts."
"Don't hurt me, please. I wanna go home."
"I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you!"
Doctor J started backing away only to bump into the red haired man. He turned quickly. "Get me out of here!"
The stranger looked around, displeased. "Now, this won't do at all. How can we see a thing in this light?" He flicked the light switch and the room was flooded with light. "Ah, that's better."
Doctor J choked, he was so frightened. "Oh, God. Save me." He recognized the children. Each one he recognized and he remembered their deaths.
"I really don't think your god wants anything to do with you at the moment. No, this is a better place for you and I've been given permission to let you stay here for a while. You took orphans and homeless children, unable to defend or take care of themselves. When that didn't get you what you wanted, you kidnapped a children from their families or bought them." The red haired man shook his head. "Even I have limits. You can't even justify yourself by claiming madness, because I KNOW you're perfectly sane. You're just evil."
"Please!" Doctor J was crying in earnest as his creations made their way towards him. One boy with no legs was pulling himself along the floor with his hands while a trail of blood seeped out from his open abdomen. Doctor J remembered slicing the boy in half himself after the boy had failed a simple mission. The boy had had to die, but there was no reason to waste good organs that could be sold at a high price. Doctor J had not bothered to waste time or money using anesthetic and had operated while the boy was still alive.
A girl with her head shaved and bleeding from her eyes and her ears walked awkwardly and glared at doctor J menacingly. Her mouth had been sewn shut. They were all around, all the... things he'd made and all the failures. The children who hadn't been strong enough to survive the training and he'd had to get rid of them.
"I'm sure you'll be happy here." The stranger smiled, making him look oddly demonic in the dim light. "What you have sown, so shall you reap." With that, the man turned and walked towards the still open door, laughing. At that moment, doctor J knew that laugh. It was Quatre's laugh, the one he'd used when he'd tortured doctor J. "You won't be here forever, don't worry. I'm sure in the meantime, however, your failures would like to have a word with you. They've been waiting for you for a long time."
The red haired man stepped through the door and it instantly vanished, leaving doctor J trapped alone with his creatures, the dead children he thought he'd seen the last of so long ago.
"Keep away." He said, though his voice had lost the command it once held as the children came closer and closer. In jars on the shelves, doctor J couldn't help but recognize several organs of different children he'd saved for study over the years. Inside their glass jars, the organs moved and thrashed in the formaldehyde as if they, too, wished to get at doctor J. "Stay away from me!"
One of the children, the leg-less boy, had reached doctor J and grabbed his pant leg with one hand. "I want to go home, doctor." The boy sputtered through his many broken teeth. "I want to go home!"
Doctor J shook his leg, trying to free himself of the boy, but as he did another boy took his arm. "I want to go home! I miss my mommy. Let me go home!" This boy's eyes had rotted out, leaving only black decay and a writhing mass of maggots where his eyes should be.
"I'm scared, I don't want to be here!" The girl who had died just before doctor J had kidnapped Seiji grabbed his other arm and started pulling.
"Let me go!" Doctor J screamed, desperately trying to get away. He could barely move, though. They were so strong and there were to many of them, holding him down like anchors held a ship. There was no escape. No doors or windows, no way for him to even fight back. Doctor J screamed again, as loud as he could, hoping for someone to save him.
No one came.
Sh'ten-
Sh'ten listened to the screams of the man who'd hurt his family and smiled. A genuine, pleasant smile that showed exactly how happy he was. With a sigh of contentment, Sh'ten walked away from where he'd left Dr. J to his just reward. "I love my work."
To be continued...
Rajura-
Rajura wouldn’t have presumed to know the boy well, but he understood, by the reactions his friends were giving - mostly wide-eyed caution - that what they had seen of him earlier was not normal for him.
The tall, narrow boy eased Quatre to his feet and took a step backwards. Everyone stared at the boy instead of their captured enemy. It made sense, to Rajura’s practical mind. After all, the old man was already bound and helpless. The boy, who’d done his best to tangle with an enraged Anubisu wearing the shape of a massive tiger, was surely more of a threat. He, after all, was free.
“And how are you feeling?” Rajura reluctantly spoke before anyone else when it appeared that no one would take the lead.
Quatre smiled. “I’m just fine. Thank you for asking, ‘Jura.”
The nick-name stunned Rajura more than anything else they’d seen that night - more even than the metal giants called Gundams.
When no one spoke for a moment, Quatre opened his eyes wide and asked, innocently, "Is there a problem? You all seem rather tense. Ohhh… ” His attention suddenly shifted as he realized that he’d been shot and he leaned over to examine the hole in his thigh. The flow of blood had slowed but had left a faintly shining mess on the black outfit he wore. What a strange outfit it was, too. Skintight and completely indecent.
Rajura was offended on Noin-san’s behalf, but pleased Kay was nowhere around. He was also embarrassed for Quatre. The boy was far too young to be dressing so scandalously. Rajura decided that it was surely the influence of the man they’d captured according to Noin-san’s accusations.
Quatre poked his finger into the hole in his thigh. Instead of being horrified at the dark, drying blood, Quatre seemed fascinated and poked his finger in deeper until they all heard a squishing noise.
Touma gagged. "Don't do that, Kitty! You'll get an infection!"
Quatre didn't answer, but pulled his finger out, now covered in blood. He straightened up and stared at his blood-coated finger with fascination, then smiled and held out the fingers towards Anubisu. "Hungry? You’ve used up a lot of energy, haven’t you?”
Anubisu dumbly shook his head.
Quatre shrugged and stuck the finger in his own mouth, sucking off the blood like it was the sweetest of candies and licked his lips when he’d finished. "Yummy." Finally he turned to Treize-san and Zechs-san and all of the other ningens. "You can leave now. You’re not needed." Quatre smiled, but it was so unlike his normal, innocent smile. This smile was wicked and sinister - familiar. "You need an expert in cases like this." There was something dark about Quatre as he looked around at them. Quatre fixed his eyes on Naaza. “You look so sad, sweet Naotoki.” Quatre laughed and raised one hand to tenderly stroke the stunned Naaza's cheek, running his thumb over Naaza's jaw.
Rajura choked at the name. Even more stunning than Quatre’s use of Rajura’s nick-name was his use of Naaza’s true name. Naotoki was the name given to Naaza by his mother, long before he’d been taken into Arago’s service. It was a name only his three brothers knew and they would never have told an outsider. In fact, the only one that ever called him Naotoki was…
“Sh’ten?” Naaza took a faltering step back, confused and a little scared at the use of his true name. "‘Ten-chan? How...?"
There was a dual gasp from Ryou and Duo and they stepped forward, but hesitated in going right to Quatre. Ryou put his arms around himself. It was Duo - naturally - who spoke. "Mama Sh'ten?"
Quatre smirked at the two boys over his shoulder. “My boys.” He moved away from Naaza to walk around doctor J. "You all look so surprised to see me. I would have thought you’d be used to it by now. Yes, I am Sh’ten.”
Ryou and Duo moved closer to one another until their knuckles brushed and they seemed to gain strength from the touch. “Mama Sh’ten,” Ryou said. “Are you staying this time?”
It was impossible to miss the alarmed reaction from both Touma and Trowa.
“No,” Sh’ten answered. “I’m just borrowing this body. Mine’s of no more use. I was given the gift of more time and I wanted to help. I wanted to help with this,” He reached out and lay Quatre’s slim hand on the top of doctor J’s head. “Don't worry about Quatre. I'll give him back in a little while." He likely meant that for those, like Trowa and Touma, who looked concerned for Quatre, but didn‘t look away from doctor J. "Quatre, due to his recent experiences, seems to be very sensitive to all aspects of life and otherwise. That is what makes this whole… experience possible.”
There was no link, Rajura sadly realized. He reached out, but there was only emptiness where Sh’ten should have been in his mind. No bond at all to prove whether or not the person inhabiting Quatre was Sh’ten. Rajura didn’t doubt it, though. Even if he hadn’t known that Naaza was Naotoki, Rajura felt that he would have known.
"Give Quatre back," Trowa ordered.
Sh’ten laughed. “Or what? Will you kill Quatre's body? I'm already dead, so I really don't care. Perhaps you’ll try to torture me in order to force my compliance.“ His eyes sparkled. “I’m afraid I haven’t time enough for that. Besides, ‘Za-chan gets jealous. Don’t look so grim. It’s not that bad. Your Quatre isn’t hurt, nor will he be from me. Quatre needed a rest, anyway. He doesn't need this body at the moment. I do."
"Why?" Touma asked, worried. His fingers twitched at his sides and his brow was furrowed deeply.
Sh'ten stared at them all, looking them up and down as if he couldn't get enough of them. "I wanted to see you all before it was to late. This is my last opportunity to speak with you before I move on." He paused for a tense moment. Then, with a bright smile, said, "Enough of this depressing rubbish." Sh'ten rubbed his hands together eagerly and turned his gaze to doctor J. "How about fun before I leave?”
It made Rajura laugh. "This is the man who hurt Seiji and Heero and, now, Quatre and Noin. He’s all yours.”
Sh'ten chuckled. "As my last act on this world, and an effort to bring a new meaning to the word 'pain', I'll conduct this punishment." His eyes took a decidedly evil light. "This will be my best work ever. A true masterpiece."
Heero-
"Just let me get some toys." Sh’ten said before leaving the room. He didn’t doubt that the one speaking was Sh’ten. He had no reason to think Quatre would lie, so there was no reason to disbelieve his words.
It really didn't matter.
He was losing his courage, rapidly.
Heero swallowed, not for the first time since arriving at doctor J’s hide-out, and inched backwards. It wasn’t hard. No one was paying him any attention. They were all too intent on Sh’ten. Heero could feel his heart thudding painfully against his ribs. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were just going to retrieve their missing friend, that was all. They should have returned to Kushranada’s home. They shouldn’t have come hunting for doctor J. Heero shouldn’t have, anyway. He knew he should have left them when Anubisu had furiously demanded they find the one responsible for this evil. He should have found some excuse to stay away. But he hadn’t because Duo had wanted to go in.
Doctor J groaned and raised his head. He took only a moment to take in the sight before his eyes went to Heero and he snapped, "Heero, kill them all!”
Something inside Heero seemed to jump at the order. Heero jerked his gun out of the holster and took aim at the first person he saw: Seiji.
Everyone froze.
Seiji did nothing. He didn’t even look surprised.
'Move Seiji. Get away, fight. Do something!' Heero thought desperately.
Seiji just stood there, his face perfectly still and emotionless, just as he'd been trained.
'Please, move!'
Seiji stared at Heero. "I won't fight you, Heero."
"Kill him, Heero! That's an order!" Doctor J screamed.
Heero started to pull back on the trigger. It was an easy kill, Seiji was only about three feet away from him. The mission would be complete.
Flashback-
"Don't cry, Heero. I'll protect you."
"I'll always be with you, Heero."
"You won't let them hurt me, will you, Heero?"
"It's okay that you're scared of spiders. I'm scared of the dark. Don't tell doctor J, all right?"
"You're my best friend."
End Flashback-
Everything slipped into the right place. Like a puzzle piece that finally fit into the correct spot, Heero understood what was right and wrong. It had always escaped him, before. There had never been right or wrong. There was pain and there was fear. Heero understood those. Right and wrong were things he’d never had to think about. Orders were orders and didn’t require thought. All he had to do was act.
Seiji, though…. Seiji knew what was right. He stood before Heero’s gun without fear.
He trusted Heero.
Seiji believed in Heero.
Slowly, Heero turned away from Seiji, his finger still on the trigger of his gun, and took aim at doctor J. The doctor was so helpless, tied to that chair, the perfect target.
"Heero?" Doctor J started shaking. "What are you doing? I'm not your target. Your mission is to kill them." His tone turned harder. "You will not kill me, Heero. You are mine. You can not kill me."
Heero felt himself waver. He belonged to doctor J, he had for almost as long as he could remember. Doctor J gave him everything from clothes to food and a purpose in life. 'But I don't like doctor J. He hurts me and he let those other people hurt me.' Heero's gun started to shake along with his hand. ‘Can’t hurt me if he’s dead.’
"You must obey orders, Heero. You must obey."
Heero looked at Seiji from the corner of his eye, but Seiji was still frozen, refusing to help in the decision.
Doctor J leaned forward as much as he was able to. "You can not disobey, Heero."
'I can!' Heero's hand stopped shaking when he met Duo's eyes. 'I can disobey!'
Doctor J seemed to sense Heero's sudden resolve and licked his lips, nervously. "Put your gun away, Heero. I only do what I have to for your own good. I want you to be strong. You never wanted to be weak, did you?"
"I hate you." Heero felt his heart stop for just a moment. "I hate you. You hurt me. You hurt Seiji. You made me hurt people. I hate you." The words came out slow and in simple, childish statements. He felt his throat seize up as he forced out the words he’d wanted to say for so long.
Doctor J started sweating. His mouth tightened.
Heero didn't stop, his eyes took on a kind of frantic gleam and his teeth clenched. "I want to kill you. I want to make you feel pain. I want you gone and I want you hurt... I want... I want... "
"Don't do this, Heero." Doctor J said, sounding more desperate by the second. "You won't be happy if you kill me. You will be very unhappy without your orders. How can you survive without me? There will be no one to tell you what to do."
"I will choose how to be happy!" Heero shouted. "I will chose what to do and I will chose how to live. I will make my own choices!" Heero spun around suddenly and grabbed Duo by the front of his shirt to pulling him in for a kiss.
Duo-
'... ' Duo's mind stalled in shock until Heero started pulling away. 'Oh, no you don't!'
Heero-
'He doesn't like it,' Heero thought miserably when Duo stiffened in his arms and just froze. 'I should have known. Why would he even want to touch me?' Heero, not wanting to upset Duo, began pulling away from the kiss.
Duo’s hands took Heero’s head and held him firmly in place as he stuck his tongue in Heero's mouth. Hero was absolutely shocked when Duo ran his tongue along Heero's teeth.
'... ' Heero's mind stalled. 'Maybe he does like it.'
Seiji and Ryou-
YES! IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Rajura-
‘Sigh… children. So overdramatic.’
Heero-
After several long minutes, Heero pulled away from Duo, breathless and dizzy.
His first kiss…
Heero re-aimed his gun at doctor J ... but he couldn't fire. Frowning, Heero tried to tightened his finger on the trigger, but couldn‘t. He knew what he wanted, so why couldn't he just do it? Raising his other hand to grip his gun with both hands, Heero tried yet again, but his finger simply wouldn't move.
"S-Seiji? I... I can't." Heero hated how weak his voice sounded. Slowly, the gun fell from his hands, landing on the floor with a loud thud.
Seiji put his arm around Heero's shoulders. "It's all right."
Heero's chest felt tight and his eyes were burning. A tear ran down his cheek and splashed onto Seiji's hand. Heero raised a hand to his eye and touched the wet trail the tear had left behind. Crying? Tears? No, he hadn't cried since Seiji had been taken away from him. He never cried. Never.
Duo wordlessly threw his arms around Heero, hugging him tightly.
"It's okay to cry." Seiji whispered, patting Heero's hair. Seiji and Duo pulled Heero slightly, taking him further away from doctor J.
"I told you, Heero, you couldn't do it." Doctor J smiled. "Release me, now."
"Now, don't be so hasty to leave. You don't want to be rude, do you?" Sh’ten was back with a thin smile and his arms full of... things. "Just because Heero doesn't feel quite up to this, doesn't mean we have to cancel the festivities. I'm sure you and I can have just as much fun without him." Sh’ten shifted his eyes to Anubisu. "Put him on the table, 'Nubie. I want him to be tied spread eagle, Rajura, 'Za-chan." The three Ma-Sho came forward and did as they were told.
Rajura turned to Treize. "I think it's time that everyone left. Please, take Noin-san somewhere safe so she can rest. This is no place for a lady. The children have no place here, either. Everyone should leave but Heero and Seiji. It's their right to be here and help."
Treize gave Rajura a suspicious look. "Are you going to kill him? I need him to stand trial for treason as well as kidnapping and various other crimes."
Rajura met his gaze evenly. "Forget about him. When Sh'ten is finished, there won't be anything left."
Treize thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Zechs, let's go home."
Zechs obediently followed, carrying Noin.
Seiji looked like he wanted to go with his sister, but he kept looking at doctor J with undisguised hatred. Ryou put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to stay?"
Seiji nodded.
"I'll go take care of your sister for you." Ryou gave Seiji and peck on the cheek before running after Treize and Zechs. Before he'd gone very far, though, Ryou stopped and turned back. He looked at Sh’ten, not Seiji.
The terrible grief in his eyes was painful. "I miss you, Mama Sh'ten. It's not fair. My parents died. My granma died. Now you died. I... I thought you'd live forever and I wouldn't have to worry about losing you."
"I died for you, Ryou. Don't be sad about it, I don't regret my death. It was glorious." Sh'ten just smiled and kissed Ryou on the cheek. "Go, Ryou-chan. I don't want you to see what I'm going to do here."
"But... " Duo stepped objected, keeping one arm around Heero's shoulders.
Sh'ten held up a hand to stall any argument. "Duo-chan, you know I'm right. Go with your brother and take care of everyone."
Duo tried to look angry, but he ended up switching his hug from Heero to Sh'ten. "I love you, Mama Sh'ten. Why did you have to die?" He was crying freely and didn't seem at all embarrassed about it.
Sh'ten put a hand on the side of Duo's face and looked right in his eyes. "Because my family needed me and because I love you all. I would die again, if I had to. I'm so proud to be your mama." Sh'ten told him with a smile.
Duo suddenly burst away from Sh'ten and ran to Heero who was now standing with Ryou. Apparently, Seiji had entrusted Heero to Ryo while he stayed here to help with doctor J. Together with their arms around each other, Duo and Heero left the apartment with their friends, Treize, and Zechs who carried Noin. That left Sh'ten looking at Wufei and Trowa who'd stayed behind. "You two had better... "
"No," Wufei answered. "We are staying."
"May I ask why?"
Trowa gave him a pointed look. "I want to make sure Quatre will be all right. He wouldn't like what you're planning to do."
"Rest assured," Sh'ten said. "Quatre is fast asleep and he will not remember any of this when he wakes."
Wufei said, "We have as much right as Seiji and Heero to be here. We were all trained in similar manners and, we've just found out, that we were betrayed by this one." He jabbed a finger at doctor J. "I want to be here to see justice done."
Sh'ten laughed. "Dear child. What is going to happen here will be justice, but I seriously doubt you will appreciate it as much as you think you will. I am not going to execute this man; that would be to merciful. I am going to cause him as much pain as I possibly can. I am very good at this and his pain will last several hours."
Wufei pointed at Heero and Seiji. "Their pain lasted almost ten years from what I've been told. I don't think even you could make doctor J suffer enough."
Sh'ten gave up trying to persuade Wufei and Trowa, but then started to explain what, exactly, he was going to do to doctor J. After about two minutes of listening to him, Wufei fled the room with Trowa following quickly after.
Doctor J protested loudly the entire time, but no one tried to stifle him. They let him rant and rave, struggling pathetically to free himself.
While that was happening, Sh'ten moved another, smaller table closer and began to set out his 'toys' on it. Heero saw everything from small butter knives to more ominous toys included a large cleaver, a hand saw, a chain about seven feet long, several large fishing hooks, and jars of... stuff.
"Don't feel to badly about not being able to kill doctor J," Sh'ten told Heero as he organized his equipment. "You've been under his influence for a long time. I don't suppose it's easy to break away in a day. You'll get better. For right now, I think it's best that you just watch. If it's too much for you, just step outside. That goes for you, too, Seiji."
Sh'ten gleefully looked around at all the computers, searching for something. Finally, he smiled when he saw a bunch of wires sticking out from one of the computers. With one tug, all the wires came out, with loose ends and sparks flying for just a second. "Oh, yes. These will do nicely." Sh'ten's eyes seemed to glow with an unholy light.
Rajura-
Rajura had no more doubt that the spirit using Quatre's body was Sh'ten. The innocent-looking boy could be none other than Rajura's wicked little brother. Once the irritating doctor had been efficiently tied down with thick rope Sh'ten had found, Rajura, Anubisu, and Naaza backed away from the table to give Sh'ten working room.
Sh'ten turned Quatre's sweet blue eyes on doctor J who stared at him, terrified. "As you may have guessed," Sh'ten said pleasantly. "I am evil. I don't make any excuses for it, it's just one of the things that makes me what I am. Frankly, I enjoy what I am. It gives me a thrill every time I see a look of pain cross someone's face." Sh'ten picked up a length of the wire he'd just ripped from one of the computers and stretched it between his hands. "I I‘m going to hurt you, now."
Doctor J's eyes fixated on Sh'ten, tracking him intently, as if he could think of a way to escape this situation. "There’s no need for this. I can compensate you… ”
Rajura asked, "You won’t be so unkind as to deny Sh’ten, will you? Sh'ten's been patient for a very long time, just waiting for a chance to revive his skills. Do you know what kind of Hell that is? To have your greatest joy denied for more than four centuries?" Rajura went to doctor J's side and squatted down so he could get closer to the man's face. "You're about to be given pain by a skilled artist." Rajura patted doctor J's cheek. "You should feel honored, really." Laughing softly, Rajura backed away again.
Sh'ten licked his lips, the wire now tightly wrapped around his hands, leaving about six inches between his hands. "Get those goggles off his face, Anubisu. I want to see his eyes."
Anubisu wordlessly complied, using his large hands to pull the goggles off.
Doctor J cried out when his face lurched forward at the tug. "No! They're implants, they don't come off!"
"Yes, they will.” Anubisu smirked. He pulled again and the goggles did, indeed, come off. With blood squirting off as they popped off. There was a thin line of blood outlining doctor J's eyes. "See," Anubisu dropped the goggles onto the floor. "That wasn't so hard was it?"
Doctor J panted and blinked his dark brown eyes rapidly. The skin around his eyes, that wasn't bleeding, was white as snow as it hadn't seen daylight in years. "There's no need for all this. I'm sure we can reach an agreement."
Anubisu, before moving away, dropped the goggles and leaned down over doctor J's face. He took a long lick of the blood around doctor J's eyes. Anubisu licked his lips and smiled. "You don't taste too good, to be honest. Honestly, you do human experimentation, torture small children, kill your own allies, and your blood isn't even good enough to drink. I wonder if you have any redeeming qualities at all."
With slow precision, Sh'ten took the wire in his hands and lay it carefully over doctor J's throat. Sh'ten yanked down hard, straining the wire across doctor J's throat.
A deep gagging from doctor J stifled any cry of pain he wanted to let out, but his frightened eyes bugged out and his face turned bright red almost instantly. Sh'ten held him like that for a minute, before abruptly releasing him and stepping away, almost staggering.
"Oh, yes." Sh'ten breathed heavily with a manic smile. "I liked that."
Naaza shifted uncomfortably next to Rajura. HE'S GETTING AROUSED WITH THIS, Naaza told Rajura, as if Rajura didn't know. I HOPE HE CAN KEEP HIMSELF FROM DOING ANYTHING... WEIRD.
YOU WISH, Rajura replied. YOU KNOW HE'S A PERVERT WHEN IT COMES TO THIS SORT OF THING.
Sh'ten was spasmodically tightening and releasing the wire around his hands and muttering to himself, "Mustn't be too fast. We want this to last as long as possible. Where to begin, oh where to begin?" Sh'ten seemed unfocused for a minute and Rajura realized that he'd never actually seen Sh'ten in action before. Yes, he'd seen his little brother do some truly awful things, but Sh'ten had always hinted that he could do better, or rather, worse.
Sh'ten never lost his focus on doctor J. "I think we’re alike, you and I. I enjoy pain. You enjoy pain. You must, or you wouldn't have hurt my little brother like you did. That proves you like causing pain. If you hadn't hurt my little brother, I wouldn't be hurting you now."
"No." Doctor J shook his head wildly. "I didn't know he was your brother. I swear I didn't know."
"Neither did I, at the time. Doesn't really matter though, now does it? This is now and he is my family. You hurt him so I will hurt you. Anubisu?"
"Yes?"
Sh'ten looked down at Quatre's thin, delicate body. "This body isn't strong enough to do what I want it to do. I want you to break his bones, starting from his toes and working up to his... ummm... working up to his hips. Yes, that should be good enough. Would you do that for me?"
"My pleasure." Anubisu cracked his knuckles and set to work. With the air of a professional, Anubisu took off doctor J's ankle length boots and black socks so he could see what he was doing.
"No!" Doctor J shouted, raising his head as much as possible and turning his eyes to Heero. "Heero, stop him! That's an order, you must obey!"
Heero moved forward slightly, obeying by habit, before Seiji wrapped his arms around Heero and held him tightly against his chest.
"Don't listen." Seiji said, not bothering to whisper. "Just don't listen. He's not important now." He leaned his chin over Heero's shoulder and in Seiji's arms, Heero relaxed slightly though his eyes never left the begging doctor J.
Anubisu broke doctor J's smallest toe and the old man let out a scream.
"Don't get so upset," Sh'ten said. "It's only one toe, after all. We have a long way to go."
In a calm, easy manner, Anubisu broke each toe in succession. When he was finished, he moved to doctor J's feet, crushing the bones with a hammer Sh'ten had found. He moved onto the ankles, both bones in the lower legs, both kneecaps and, with the hammer again, both upper legs. For the hipbones, Anubisu simply put both of his fists together and smashed down.
Doctor J passed out at that point and Sh'ten pouted.
"Well, that's no fun. 'Za-chan, heal him for me, please."
Naaza didn't reply, but walked to doctor J's side and looked down on him in contempt. Then Naaza spit on doctor J, his spittle sizzling where it hit doctor J's black and blue foot. Naaza kept spitting on him, occasionally slapping the man with a hand, to wipe his secretions off on doctor J. At one particularly bad break, Naaza extended his fangs to their full length, nearly two inches, and let his venom drip freely out.
While Naaza often healed his family with his burning touch, he would make it as pleasant as humanly possible, with soft touches and kisses. Doctor J deserved none of that concern.
"It's not working," Sh'ten complained, irritably. "I want him to wake up. I want him to feel this."
"It'll just take time," Naaza told him. "A little waiting won't hurt."
"But it might. I don't have long before I have to leave." He didn't look at Naaza's hurt expression. "I want this to last, but I want it done before my time is up. This is the last time I'll be able to come back."
"How do you know?" Anubisu asked.
"I was told that. This is the last time I'll be able to see you and I want everyone to remember me. Anyway, Seiji, would you mind giving it a try?"
Seiji nodded and stepped up next to Naaza. His mind was filled with the memories of everything doctor J had done to him and Heero over the years. The dark room loomed impressively in the forefront. Seiji healed doctor J enough that he woke up and all this bones were healed, but Seiji himself was exhausted afterwards and had to be caught by Heero before he fell.
"Ah, you're with us again." Sh'ten clapped his hands together cheerfully when doctor J woke. "Heero, please get Seiji a chair so he can be comfortable. Let's get a move on, shall we? I think next... " He paused for dramatic effect. "'Za-chan, would you like to have a go?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Naaza grinned just as Rajura took Heero by the arm.
"I think you and Seiji had best wait over here." Rajura said leading them to a corner of the large room, away from doctor J. "I know you deserve to be here, but I don't want you too close when Naaza gets going." He stood with them, partially blocking Heero's view of whatever Naaza was doing.
Doctor J's screaming went on for several minutes and the smell of burning flesh intensified. Rajura saw thin wisps of smoke coming from doctor J's body and was more than a little disturbed by what he saw. Not that his brothers were torturing doctor J, that was expected and he was used to that sort of thing. He was disturbed that neither Heero nor Seiji seemed upset by what they saw. They should be at least a 'little' upset.
"Doctor J used to make us watch things," Seiji said, as if he knew what Rajura was thinking. "We watched videos of people killing each other. Once we had to sit completely still while two rabid dogs ripped each other apart in front of us. He killed a baby in front of us, at one time. It was crying and he used a scalpel to cut open its ribcage. It was still crying when he made us touch its beating heart. He called it desensitization. So whatever we had to see or do on a mission wouldn't make us falter."
It was the most Rajura had ever heard Seiji say at one time and even Rajura, who'd seen and done so much in his long life, was horrified.
"Rajura," Sh'ten called out. "I want some more toys. Have anything in mind?"
Giving Seiji a pat on the arm, Rajura answered. "Oh, I think I can come up with something." Rajura raised one hand and closed his eyes, envisioning what would be most useful to Sh'ten.
"Oh, 'Jura!" Sh'ten flushed with excitement when Rajura was finished decorating the room. "You are just too good to me!"
The room was brighter, suddenly, giving light enough for doctor J to clearly see what was going to be done to him. From the ceiling hung long, thick chains, each with a barbed hook on the end. For effect, there were now windows that looked out onto bright, sunny fields of wildflowers. The table where Sh'ten had put his found 'toys' was now accompanied by three others, all surrounding doctor J, and all filled with 'toys'.
For a moment, Sh'ten went from table to table, inspecting what Rajura had given him to work with.
"I don't see anything." Seiji said, looking around.
"You aren't meant to," Anubisu answered, taking Rajura's place next to the two boys. "Rajura doesn't want to corrupt you any more than necessary. Doctor J's already done a pretty thorough job on you and we don't want it to get any worse."
"Can you see it?" Seiji asked.
"Yes. But I'm already corrupted so it doesn't matter."
"We've seen bad things before. It can't be worse than what doctor J put us through."
Anubisu gave Seiji a penetrating look. "Doctor J is human and nothing more. You haven't seen evil until you've been in the service of a demon for a few centuries. Just relax and be thankful you don't have to see this."
Rajura knew that, to Seiji and Heero, it looked like nothing was happening. To them, Sh'ten was looking around at empty space and doctor J was afraid of absolutely nothing. Everyone else, though, saw Sh'ten pick up a silver spoon.
"What... what is that for?" Doctor J asked in a shaking voice.
"You took Seiji's eye. I think I want yours. I remember someone telling me once, something about and eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I approve of that philosophy." Sh'ten leaned over doctor J, with his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth and he put the illusion spoon to doctor J's left eye.
"No! Let me go!"
Sh'ten stifled a giggle when he angled the spoon down and scooped out the wet, quivering eyeball. Doctor J almost passed out again, but Naaza kept him awake, with another of his healing slaps across the face. Sh'ten held the eyeball in the spoon, bringing it up close to his face. "Nice to SEE you." Sh'ten giggled again, at his bad pun, before he gave the eye a quick lick. In his, or rather, Quatre's bare hand Sh'ten dropped the eyeball and rolled it around for a minute before he poked it with one finger, amused. He looked like a small child playing with a new toy, the way he seemed fascinated by the eyeball. "I want to keep it."
"You can't," Rajura told him firmly. "This isn't real, remember. He'll still be whole when you're done with him."
"That's what you think." Sh'ten smirked at Rajura. "I'm just getting warmed up."
Sh'ten cut off doctor J's pant legs before picking up a large carving knife, similar to what one might use to carve a turkey. "The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone," Sh'ten said in a sing-song voice as he tapped doctor J's foot with the knife and moved it to the ankle. "Duo taught me this song, you know." He said in a conversational voice before continuing to sing. "The ankle bone's connected to the... the... hmm, I seem to have forgotten. I suppose I'll just have to find out for myself." The knife slid into doctor J's calf muscle easily, with a large squirt of blood that told Rajura Sh'ten had managed to hit an artery. Sh'ten didn't even pause, but continued to carve around the bone until all the muscles and skin of doctor J's lower leg fell off in a sloppy mess. "Oh, yes. I remember. It's the leg bone that comes next. Silly me."
Rajura felt the urge to vomit, but held it back. He'd known this would be bad and he had to keep the illusion steady or he'd ruin all Sh'ten's hard work.
Seiji-
After a while, Sh'ten tired of the illusion and he wanted to do some 'real' work. He had Rajura cast off the illusion so he could use a paring knife he'd found somewhere.
Sh'ten peeled doctor J like an apple, methodically removing the skin from doctor J's now naked body. Seiji had to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from throwing up and Heero turned a pale shade of green. That was when Heero and Seiji reached their breaking point and had to leave the room.
Outside, in the hallway, cut off from doctor J's screams, they found Trowa and Wufei waiting silently.
"Are they finished?" Trowa asked.
Seiji shook his head. "Just getting started, I believe."
Wufei's eyes widened. "Just getting started? They've been in there for an hour!"
Again, silence and everyone seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts. The doctors' Quatre had killed before had been drug down the hall, but Trowa and Wufei kept glimpsing at the bodies out of the corners of their eyes. The unspoken, but all-important question, weighted heavily between them. 'What do we do now?' For most of their lives, the doctors had controlled the four boys, dictated their purposes in life.
"I'm going to stay with my auntie and my cousins," Wufei said at last. "I'm not going to help start a war, now. They already lied to us about so much and we shouldn't do anything until we know the truth. I don't even know what's real, anymore. I'll help run the restaurant."
"I agree," Trowa said. "If we find out that Treize and the Alliance really are evil, then we can destroy them. Until then, I should go back to the circus." While he said this, though, his gaze was firmly fixed on the door behind which Quatre's body was being used to do terrible, terrible things. Everyone could tell that he didn't want to leave his new friend.
Finally, everyone looked at Heero, who'd said nothing, but Heero looked away quickly and Seiji knew what the problem was. Heero had no where to go. No family to take care of him and teach him how to survive without doctor J. It didn't matter, Seiji would have Heero stay with him until Heero could do it on his own.
"What about you, Seiji?" Trowa asked.
Seiji gave him a flat look. "I no longer have my Gundam. I destroyed it when I reached Earth, so I'm no longer a pilot. I will stay with my family." Not only Luc, but also Ryou, Touma, Shin, and Xiu. Seiji couldn't imagine living without them.
"That's a good point," Wufei said. "What do we do with the Gundams? We can't just leave them around for anyone to find. Even if there's not going to be a war, we have to protect them. It would be almost impossible for us all to find hiding places for them."
No one seemed to know an answer for that question.
Still, the image of what his 'brothers' were doing in the other room made Seiji's stomach turn and he put a hand in his pocket to grab the precious orb. With only slight effort, Seiji reached out and touched the minds of Ryou, Touma, Shin, and Xiu. They wrapped around him like a comforting blanket he'd once had when he was very little and Seiji let himself be surrounded by their love.
Naaza-
When it was over, doctor J was dead. What had been his body was little more than a bloody lump on the table, not even recognizable as a human. Sh'ten had made even himself proud with what he'd done to doctor J.
"It's over." Sh'ten wiped his bloody hands on Quatre's black suit. "I have to leave now."
The three who remained with him knew this had been coming and, strangely, Naaza didn't feel so terribly sad, this time.
Sh'ten came to a stop before Rajura, looking up at the taller man. "Jirougorou," Rajura stiffened when Sh'ten used his true name. "You are the greatest teacher I've ever had the honor of knowing. You suffered with your power more than any of us ever have and you had to live alone for so many years. You are the one who spared us that suffering and made us into a family. I have never known anyone as strong as you." Sh'ten stood on his tiptoes and put a hand behind Rajura's head, digging his fingers into Rajura's long white hair. With a gentle pull, Sh'ten brought Rajura's head down to his own and they kissed firmly. When Sh'ten finally released him Rajura was crying silently and turned away from everyone.
Sh'ten moved to Anubisu next and took his hand, rubbing it between Quatre's two small hands. "Kujuurou, I love you dearer than any brother ever could. You were so afraid of yourself and you never told anyone. So afraid that you'd hurt one of us and you tried to keep us out of your heart. I wish I could have helped you more to deal with what you are." He smiled wickedly and raised one of Anubisu's hands to kiss the savage claws that still replaced his fingernails. "I'll regret never being able to run with you, again. Under the midnight moon of the Ningen Sekai, with a cool summer breeze at our backs." Sh'ten put his hand behind Anubisu's neck and pulled Anubisu into a kiss, just as he had with Rajura. It was a deep kiss and Anubisu ended up, as Rajura had, crying.
Finally, he came to Naaza, whose arms were wrapped tightly around himself. Naaza spoke first. "Who's going to help me when it come time for me to shed?" Silly thing to say, but it was the first thing that popped into his head. It was almost time for his skin to shed and Sh'ten had always helped. For centuries it had been Sh'ten who would sit with him and read to him while waiting for the pain filled hours to pass until the skin peeled off, just like any other snake shed its skin.
"The others will rub and oil your skin," Sh'ten said quietly. "You know how to make the oil and Rajura's hands are very soft."
"You're hands are softer."
The two stood in silence for a moment. "I'll never forget you, Naotoki." Sh'ten seemed on the verge of tears. "If I could... I wish... " Sh'ten was at a loss for words and just stepped in to hug Naaza. Quatre's body was so much smaller than Naaza's and ended up with Sh'ten's cheek pressed against Naaza's chest. "I'll always love you."
Naaza bent down at tilted Sh'ten's face up and they kissed. Now, Sh'ten did let a few tears fall, but he quickly wiped them away once he stepped away from Naaza. He said nothing and gave them all a sad smile, but rolled his eyes up into his head and fell limply into Naaza's arms.
"He's gone," Naaza said, strangely calm. "He gone, again."
"Do you think he'll come back?" Anubisu asked softly, putting a hand on Quatre's hair.
Naaza shook his head. "I... I really don't know."
Doctor J-
Doctor J found himself standing in his computer room, the same room where he'd given Quatre to the Zero System and was absolutely overjoyed to find he was whole. There wasn't a scratch or even a splatter of blood on him anywhere. The boys who stood around looking at something on a table didn't see him and doctor J kept as quiet as he could, knowing that he'd finally escaped them.
Quatre, collapsed and being held in the arms of some man with green hair, had been the one who'd caused him so much pain. Doctor J swore to himself that he would see the boy was retrained - properly this time. After all, he owned Quatre. He owned all of them; they were his creations and the pride of his career.
"I wouldn't worry about Quatre too much, if I were you."
Doctor J whirled around to find a man looking at him. The man had long reddish brown hair and bright green eyes that sparkled as he looked at doctor J. "What are you talking about?" Doctor J asked cautiously. He was sure that he'd never seen this man before, even though there was something very familiar about him.
"You have other business to take care of. Those boys aren’t important to you anymore." The man was dressed strangely, in a dark green surcoat with gold trim. Underneath, he wore a kimono of solid green.
"Who are you?"
"Your guide." The man seemed to fine amusement in this. "I'm here to take you to where you belong. Do come with me, won't you?"
Something about the way he said that made doctor J suspicious. "Where do you think I belong, exactly."
"Why, your laboratory, naturally," The man answered with an innocent expression. The man took doctor J by the arm and pulled him toward a door.
"I don't remember that door." Doctor J said with a frown.
The man said nothing, but pulled doctor J persistently, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips the whole time.
Getting a sudden feeling that he didn't want the door to open, doctor J tried to stop the man from pulling him.
"There's nothing to worry about." The man told him, forcing him to walk forwards. "This is the entrance to your laboratory. Everything in there, you created. You're not afraid of what you made, are you?"
"What? No. No, certainly not." Well, that wasn't entirely true. At the moment, he wasn't sure he wanted to be alone with any of the boys he'd made. His pride wouldn't allow him to admit that. This stranger didn't know what had happened, after all. Strange, it had seemed so real and yet here he was without a mark on him. Doctor J reasoned that it must have been a dream or a hallucination of some kind.
"Good." The man's grin grew. "Then you won't mind being in your laboratory for a little while." In the stranger's hand there was a weapon, suddenly. A sickle attached to a chain with a spiked weight on the other end of the chain was in his hands and he pointed it at the door that suddenly swung open. "Why don't we step in?"
Once inside, doctor J paled.
"Now, I'm sure you haven't forgotten all your creations, the ones who came before your perfect soldier. I've learned a lot about you doctor J and I've learned that Heero, Seiji, and those other boys weren't your only creations. There were others, before your successes. The failures you threw away. The flawed experiments that were nothing more to you than mere set backs."
The laboratory was indeed just as doctor J remembered, but it was not exactly what he remembered. It was more like a mix between all the labs he'd used over the past twenty-three years. It was darkened, but doctor J could see enough to be afraid.
Eyes stared out at him and shadows moved in halting, jerky movements. Groans and moans echoed softly in the lab, pain filled sounds along with vague mutterings.
"Hurts. It hurts."
"Don't hurt me, please. I wanna go home."
"I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you!"
Doctor J started backing away only to bump into the red haired man. He turned quickly. "Get me out of here!"
The stranger looked around, displeased. "Now, this won't do at all. How can we see a thing in this light?" He flicked the light switch and the room was flooded with light. "Ah, that's better."
Doctor J choked, he was so frightened. "Oh, God. Save me." He recognized the children. Each one he recognized and he remembered their deaths.
"I really don't think your god wants anything to do with you at the moment. No, this is a better place for you and I've been given permission to let you stay here for a while. You took orphans and homeless children, unable to defend or take care of themselves. When that didn't get you what you wanted, you kidnapped a children from their families or bought them." The red haired man shook his head. "Even I have limits. You can't even justify yourself by claiming madness, because I KNOW you're perfectly sane. You're just evil."
"Please!" Doctor J was crying in earnest as his creations made their way towards him. One boy with no legs was pulling himself along the floor with his hands while a trail of blood seeped out from his open abdomen. Doctor J remembered slicing the boy in half himself after the boy had failed a simple mission. The boy had had to die, but there was no reason to waste good organs that could be sold at a high price. Doctor J had not bothered to waste time or money using anesthetic and had operated while the boy was still alive.
A girl with her head shaved and bleeding from her eyes and her ears walked awkwardly and glared at doctor J menacingly. Her mouth had been sewn shut. They were all around, all the... things he'd made and all the failures. The children who hadn't been strong enough to survive the training and he'd had to get rid of them.
"I'm sure you'll be happy here." The stranger smiled, making him look oddly demonic in the dim light. "What you have sown, so shall you reap." With that, the man turned and walked towards the still open door, laughing. At that moment, doctor J knew that laugh. It was Quatre's laugh, the one he'd used when he'd tortured doctor J. "You won't be here forever, don't worry. I'm sure in the meantime, however, your failures would like to have a word with you. They've been waiting for you for a long time."
The red haired man stepped through the door and it instantly vanished, leaving doctor J trapped alone with his creatures, the dead children he thought he'd seen the last of so long ago.
"Keep away." He said, though his voice had lost the command it once held as the children came closer and closer. In jars on the shelves, doctor J couldn't help but recognize several organs of different children he'd saved for study over the years. Inside their glass jars, the organs moved and thrashed in the formaldehyde as if they, too, wished to get at doctor J. "Stay away from me!"
One of the children, the leg-less boy, had reached doctor J and grabbed his pant leg with one hand. "I want to go home, doctor." The boy sputtered through his many broken teeth. "I want to go home!"
Doctor J shook his leg, trying to free himself of the boy, but as he did another boy took his arm. "I want to go home! I miss my mommy. Let me go home!" This boy's eyes had rotted out, leaving only black decay and a writhing mass of maggots where his eyes should be.
"I'm scared, I don't want to be here!" The girl who had died just before doctor J had kidnapped Seiji grabbed his other arm and started pulling.
"Let me go!" Doctor J screamed, desperately trying to get away. He could barely move, though. They were so strong and there were to many of them, holding him down like anchors held a ship. There was no escape. No doors or windows, no way for him to even fight back. Doctor J screamed again, as loud as he could, hoping for someone to save him.
No one came.
Sh'ten-
Sh'ten listened to the screams of the man who'd hurt his family and smiled. A genuine, pleasant smile that showed exactly how happy he was. With a sigh of contentment, Sh'ten walked away from where he'd left Dr. J to his just reward. "I love my work."
To be continued...