Heero ran to the crumbled edge of the cliff and peered down, horrified.
Duo had just fallen into the churning water, and was being smashed against the edge of the cliff. If Heero didn’t do something right now, Duo would be dead within minutes.
So, without thinking, Heero jumped in right after Duo.
Heero thought falling down a cliff gave him a nauseating feeling. When he hit the water, Heero used his strong arms to get to Duo.
Duo was strong too, but this had taken him by surprise, leaving him completely powerless to the ocean’s cruelty.
Because of Duo being forced into the cliff so many times, by the time Heero had gotten to him, he was already out cold. Grabbing Duo tightly by the waist, Heero paddled with all of his strength to get back to the shore.
After much painstaking paddling, Heero finally found level ground, and swam up to it. As soon as he had dragged Duo and himself up to land, he collapsed on the soft sand to rest his aching body.
But then he turned to Duo. If he had died… Heero shuddered.
Also, Duo’s hair had been forced out of its braid. Heero couldn’t help but stare. Duo was so beautiful. How did he ever get the name Shinigami?
Trying to focus on more important things, Heero crawled over to Duo and put two fingers on the side of Duo’s neck.
Heero sighed with relief. It was faint, but there was a pulse.
Heero decided CPR would be a good idea, so, leaning over to Duo, he began.
Duo coughed up all the water, but remained unconscious.
Heero looked at Duo more carefully. He had gashes and bruises everywhere. There was an especially deep cut on Duo’s left calf.
Heero felt bad. He shouldn’t have let Duo get so close to the edge. He ran his hand through Duo’s silky chestnut brown hair.
Duo suddenly started to shiver violently, and stirred. Heero removed his shirt and put it on Duo. Maybe he was a little cold, but Duo was definitely worse off.
Suddenly, with a last shiver, Duo slowly opened his eyes.
“Ooooohhh,” he moaned. “I hurt all over,”
“That should be expected,” Heero said, scrambling over to Duo.
Duo jumped. “Heero!” he squeaked, jostling over and hugging Heero “What happened?” He asked.
Heero reddened slightly. “Well,” he began, “I saw you dancing—”
“Ah!” Duo yelped, “You followed me?” and he turned redder than Heero.
“It’s just a good thing I did,” Heero told Duo sternly. Duo nodded.
“Anyway,” Heero continued, “You went near the edge of the cliff, and a humongous wave came up and crashed into the cliff, making it crumble beneath you. I jumped off after you. You were being smashed into the side of the cliff—”
“That explains this headache,” Duo groaned.
Heero smirked. “Yeah…anyway, by the time I reached you, you were out cold, so I grabbed you and swam until I found level land. You’re pretty bruised up, and I’m guessing you won’t be able to walk for awhile because of that nasty gash.”
Duo frowned at the cut. “Yeah.” He said, sounding upset.
“Don’t worry, I’ll carry you home,” Heero said, and before Duo could answer, he kissed him.
When it ended, Duo smiled, and tried to stand up, “Just checking if your guess is wrong…” he told Heero, but when he crumpled to the ground, Heero scooped him up and tried to find a way home.
Trowa was at home, resting a wet washcloth against Quatre’s head. He still hadn’t woken up yet, and Trowa was getting worried.
He’s got wings, Trowa thought, wiping the washcloth on Quatre’s forehead, he really does! The irony! He really does look like an angel. Quatre looked so beautiful and sad with his wings. It made me shiver. I can’t believe I was such an asshole to Quatre! And to think, he actually LOVES me? Ha. That’s a good one, Quatre, but I think maybe you deserve someone who doesn’t hurt you if you try and keep a secret. Wings, Quatre’s got wings!
Trowa was so deep in his thoughts he didn’t even notice Quatre had opened his eyes and was feeling Trowa’s pain, reading Trowa’s thoughts at the moment.
“Did I really look like an angel to you, Trowa?”
Trowa gasped. “Quatre! What—how did you know—?”
Quatre held his hand up, and that silenced Trowa. “Trowa, I know because I can read minds, and feel emotions. You were feeling horrible pain.”
“I hurt you,” Trowa said sadly.
Quatre wasn’t angry though. “That’s ok, Trowa, it really is.”
But Trowa had a look of self-disgust on his face.
“You, you were scared! You should’ve seen how pale you went!”
Quatre still wasn’t angry. “When I’m scared, I go pale. It’s noting to worry about.”
Trowa clenched his fists. “You admit you were scared, then!”
“Of course! You usually don’t act like that.”
Trowa stopped looking angry. “True,” he said.
“Just forget it.”
“I’ll try. By the way…Quatre, what’s that? Your broken ankle is bleeding!”
Quatre looked nervous. “Oh, yeah, well…”
“When I threw you on the bed I must of gotten your ankle! Quatre, I’m so sorry! I’ll never hurt you like that again!”
Quatre smiled. “It’s nothing to worry about,” he told Trowa, and tried to stand up to show him, but he buckled to the ground.
“Quatre, don’t stand up. I’ll be right back to get the first-aid kit. Your ankle gauze is all bloody.” Trowa said, put Quatre back on the couch, ran off, and came back swiftly with a kit. He unwrapped Quatre’s ankle gauze.
Trowa shook his head. “You aren’t having a fabulous vacation, are you?” he asked as he rubbed disinfectant on Quatre’s ankle.
Quatre shook his head miserably. “Not really,” he admitted.
Trowa took out some new gauze and wrapped up Quatre’s ankle. Quatre cringed as Trowa wrapped his ankle, because it stung and burned.
“Quatre?” Trowa inquired.
“Y—yes?” Quatre managed, trying to get his mind off his ankle.
“Can you feel every emotion?”
Quatre frowned at Trowa, not because he was angry, but because he was thinking of Trowa’s question.
“No,” he said, “I can’t feel love. It would be too much for anyone to handle.”
Trowa nodded, secretly relieved. He would be so embarrassed if Quatre knew he had feelings for him.
“Why?” Quatre asked.
“Oh—nothing.”
Quatre gave Trowa a skeptical look, but left the matter alone.
“I wish I could swim,” Quatre thought, but so Trowa could hear him.
“I’ll teach you!” Trowa said excitedly. “We could start in the pool.”
Quatre’s eyes widened. “Honestly?” he asked.
Trowa smiled. “Sure! I owe you anyway.”
Quatre grinned. “Great!”
There was silence. Trowa and Quatre couldn’t keep their eyes off each other. As if by reflex, they started to lean in towards each other. Their faces were almost touching…
Suddenly the door opened and in came Heero, holding a very scratched up Duo.
Quatre blushed with embarrassment at the interruption, but completely forgot that when he saw Duo’s condition.
“Oh my—what—are you ok, Duo?” Quatre stammered.
“To be blunt, I fell of a cliff.” Duo said, smiling.
Quatre’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, Duo! How did it happen, and how did Heero save you?”
Heero turned his head away with embarrassment. “How’d you know I saved him and followed him?”
Quatre winked. “I just know.”
“Ah. Anyway,” said Heero, “Since I know what happened better, I’ll tell it. First of all, I followed Duo and found him—” Duo coughed loudly “—Er, walking around on a cliff right above the waves. He didn’t notice that he went to near the edge, and when a huge wave came along and crumbled the edge he was standing on to pieces, Duo went with it.”
Quatre shuddered, And Trowa gulped. This sounded nasty.
Duo smiled at the reactions. Heero began again “I looked down and saw that he was being smashed against the side of the cliff.”
Quatre shivered this time. Poor Duo!
“So,” Heero continued, “I jumped after him.”
Trowa gasped. Heero smiled, and started again.
“He had been hit against the side so many times, that by the time I found him, he was comatose. So, I grabbed him and swam back to land.” Heero finished. Then he turned to Duo. “You were out for a long time.”
“Well, pardon me for not waking up after being nearly shishkabobbed on a cliff!” Duo cried out in mock rage.
“I wasn’t blaming you,” Heero explained, smiling.
“Oh. Well, every part of me kills. Could I have some medical attention before I fall apart?”
“God, we’ve needed to use the first-aid so much! I’m glad a brought a few,” Quatre said, forgetting his ankle and standing up to get a kit. When he fell backwards on the couch, he hit his head lightly, remembering.
“I forgot about my stupid ankle!” he moaned.
Duo looked at Quatre’s newly wrapped ankle. “Hey, Q, why is your ankle bleeding?”
Quatre looked nervous, so Trowa stepped in. “I did that when I threw him on the bed,” he said, self-disgust in his voice.
“Trowa, I said it was ok!” Quatre cried. “Besides, you wrapped it for me, and you promised me you’d teach me to swim. Don’t be sad.”
“You’ll teach him to swim?” Duo asked Trowa incredulously. Trowa nodded. “I owe him,” he said, and Heero nodded in agreement.
Quatre was staring at Duo’s leg. “Duo, can you walk with that cut?”
Duo frowned at his cut.
“Nah,” he said ruefully, “ Heero here helped me back.”
Seeing the look of gloom on Quatre’s face, he added, “Look on the bright side, Quatre! Now both of us are gonna have trouble walking! Us cripples need to hang around each other!”
Quatre chuckled weakly. “I suppose,” he said, giving a face that clearly said ‘Oh, boy, now I’m a cripple.’
“You’re lucky, though,” Duo told Quatre.
“Why?” Quatre asked, looking confused.
“Well, you can just fly everywhere!”
This sent Quatre into fits of laughter.
“F—fly everywhere?” he managed, “I’m not used to my wings at all yet! I’d smash into fifty things before I can fly smoothly!”
“How did you get your wings, anyway?” asked Wufei, who had just stepped into the room.
“You guys are pretty persistent,” Quatre said, sitting up from his laughing fit. “Well, it’s sorta a long story, but if you really want to hear it…”
Duo nodded eagerly, and the other guys watched him interestedly.
“Well,” he began, “It all starts when I had this dream on the plane about me being able to fly. The wings were the same now as they were in the dream.”
He closed his eyes and his wings appeared, so he could show them quickly, and then folded them back again, not wanting too much attention. The guys couldn’t help but stare at the wings, and especially Trowa, who couldn’t keep his eyes off Quatre.
“I felt something on my dream was going to happen, and I told Trowa, I think.”
Trowa nodded, remembering Quatre prediction.
“Well, The night I got angry at you guys, I ran away to a pretty distant part of the island. So, I was just sitting there crying, when a glow appeared in front of me. I watched it, and all of a sudden a silvery glow began in front of me, and a woman was standing in front of me.”
He explained what she looked like.
“So,” Quatre continued from his description of the woman, “I was so scared that I backed up a little and she told me not to be afraid, because she was here to help. My sixth sense made me feel she wasn’t lying. She explained that The God Of the Sun sent her here, and she told me she was known as The Angel Of the Moon. I asked if she wanted me to get someone, but she said I was the only one who could see her. She told me that she knew I had had a dream with wings, and she would give me the—the wings of an angel.”
“How come you were the only one who could see her, and how come she gave you wings and not someone else?” Heero asked.
Quatre looked as though he was pondering Heero’s question, recalling the memory.
“She—she told me I was innocent and pure of heart, and that I deserved them most.” Quatre shrugged. “I don’t understand myself,” he told everyone.
It’s true, Trowa reflected, She couldn’t have picked a more innocent and pure-hearted person. Quatre is so beaut… Trowa looked up, and he was startled to find Quatre looking at him uncertainly.
Trowa quickly averted his eyes. Oh, shit! I forgot—he can read minds! He thought angrily.
Quatre blushed and turned away. I shouldn’t read people’s minds. It’s rude! And besides, it’s none of my business. Quatre hadn’t heard about Trowa about to call him beautiful. He knew he should stop, so he did, and didn’t hear anything that would embarrass Trowa.
“You do deserve them most,” Duo told Quatre matter-of-factly.
Quatre frowned. “No, I don’t.” he said, his eyebrows furrowed.
Wufei looked slightly troubled. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well,” Quatre said, his eyes avoiding everyone, “After all those people I killed in the war…that can’t be pure hearted!”
“But you regret the people you killed, don’t you?” Heero asked.
“Of course! But—” Quatre began.
“There are no buts. I didn’t regret any of the people I killed. Did anyone else?” Heero interrupted.
Everyone shook their head in agreement with Heero.
“But I’m positive there are others who are pure hearted that haven’t killed anyone!” Quatre protested.
“Maybe, but you were doing it for the good of saving the world.” Heero shot back. “If we had lost and the Earth had been destroyed, The Angel Of the Moon wouldn’t have many people to look after. Her logic must have been that you were helping to save the world, you regret the bad you’ve done, and you’re innocent and pure-hearted still after all of that.”
Quatre couldn’t find an answer to argue with this.
Everyone looked dumbfounded at Heero. Who knew he could talk that much?
“Hmmm,” said Trowa, “There must have been a reason she gave them to you.”
“Well,” Quatre pondered aloud, “I still could be better at flying. I’m not too fabulous at it.”
“Then let’s work at it! C’mon Q!” Duo cried, and he stood up, but fell back on the couch. “Oh, Yeah. Stupid leg.” He grumbled.
“That reminds me, I still need to wrap it,” Heero said, grabbing the medical gauze, and walking over to Duo, sitting down next to him.
Wufei stood up. “I’m going to go train,” he said, and walked off.
Trowa, following after Wufei, stood up also. “I think I might go and rest,” he said, and walked away.
Heero was wrapping Duo’s calf, and Duo wasn’t taking it so well.
“Ow! Ooooh! Heeeero, be more careful!” Duo squealed as Heero wrapped his leg carefully.
“I am, Duo!” Heero told Duo, jerking him on the braid.
“Ouch!” Duo moaned as his braid jerked him down to the couch.
“You’re so odd.” Heero told Duo when he finished wrapping his cut. “That’s why I love you.” He added, and kissed Duo.
Duo smiled to himself.
Quatre shook his head, sinking into his chair. “I have to go,” he told the kissing couple, who didn’t heed him at all.
Quatre sighed and walked to the balcony.