Title: Tainted Conviction – Chapter Three

Author: Sita Seraph

Genre: Angst, Religious relatings

Pairing: 1x2, 3x4 eventually.

Rated: R

Warning: Gruesome treatment, stigmata, sixth sense, and a whole lot
of shit.

          Note: Tell me if anyone is OOC and what they would have
done.  I'm still not sure if I'm playing them right…Enjoy!  *ears are
ringing from Charlotte's pan and pot beating* ^_~

Chapter Three

"QUATRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Quatre jerked up from his sleep, gripping the blankets and eyes wide
as his name was screamed by one horrified voice.  Reacting
immediately, covers were nearly thrown across the room.  Running out
of his room, he came face to face with Trowa. They exchanged
horrified looks before shooting down the hall towards the screaming
voice.

"Quatre!!! QUATRE!!"

Wufei shot out of his room, dodging Trowa and Quatre and plowed down
the hall with them.  The three pilots turned the corner quickly and
ran to the open doorway where light was flooding out of the
bathroom.  All three stopped at the doorway.  Quatre made a gasp and
covered his mouth.  Trowa's eyes grew wide.  Wufei closed his eyes
and turned his head away, making a choking sound.

All three were greeted with Duo spilling blood all over the floor
and Heero holding him, as if it was going to stop if he squeezed hard
enough.

"Quatre! Quatre! Quatre!" Heero kept repeating, eyes too wide to be
real and looking so sick as if he had never witnessed blood before. 
Duo heaved once again, completely naked upon the tiled floor of the
bathroom and it splattered along the man who held him.  Heero threw
himself against the lower cabinets, gripping his friend as he kept
pouring more and more blood on him.  Duo made pathetic gasping
sounds, tears streaking down his face, as he could no longer stop
what kept coming up.  Over and over again, gallons of red liquid came
up and out of his body.  How could one person contain so much blood?

"QUATRE!!!" Heero screamed and broke all three pilots sickened
gaze.  Trowa immediately went forward and grabbed Duo from behind
while Heero had his front.  Duo trembled within the pilots' arms,
hacking up more and more with sickening sounds and sorrowful sobs.

"Stop him!!" Wufei screamed, getting paler by the minute.  He
stepped back slowly as the blood spread across the tiled floor and
towards the two frozen pilots at the door, slowly covering the floor
completely.

"Do what!?" Quatre screamed, panic etched in his tone and face as
tears were welling up in his eyes.  Completely helpless, Quatre
watched in mute terror as his best friend coughed up more and more
blood.

"Jesus Christ, do something!!!" Heero screamed slamming his head
back against the cabinet.

Suddenly Duo grew very stiff in the two pilots arms and Trowa and
Heero watched as Duo's head went straight to the ceiling.  He gave a
soft gurgle, then a cough as a bit of blood erupted from his red lips
and down his cheeks.  Then he collapsed completely against Trowa,
head falling on his shoulder. Eyes closed, Duo was completely out,
taking slow and long breaths.

Trowa, who was on his knees while he had held Duo, completely fell
on his butt in shock.  The silent pilot just held the sleeping boy in
his arms, staring down at the large puddle of blood beneath them. 
His arms trembled as he held the still boy and he slowly closed his
eyes, making a soft pathetic sound at the untrained experience they
all had just gone through.

Heero lay limply against the cabinet, arms lying in the warm blood
beneath him and stared hazily at the two forms before him.  As if not
really there, the pilot stared with a distance gleam in his eye at
Duo's sleeping face that dripped with red blood.

 "Duo…" Quatre murmured.

*****

"How…how could this happen?" Quatre whispered softly, gripping red
hands in front of him.  All the Gundam pilots, nay Duo, were
assembled outside the missing pilot's bedroom.  The window behind
them let in the seeping light of dawn but none of the four pilots
noticed the sun's awakening, as they were too busy with their own
problems.

Quatre, with a huff, leaned tiredly against the wall.  The innocent
pilot's shirt was covered in dry blood, as was his hands.  But
nothing was compared to Heero, who wore nothing but boxers.  From
head to toe, he was nearly covered in red 'paint' and he had yet to
dry.  Pieces of his hair were darker then the rest as blood had
gotten there also.  Trowa's pants were soaked here and there and even
Wufei's white pants had gotten some blood on them for caring for
their sleeping friend.

"There's no scientific fact for the cause…" Wufei said quietly,
staring off and not meeting anybody's gaze.

"It could have been a drug," Trowa said just as quietly.  The whole
experience had freaked them all out, not just because of the blood,
but because they couldn't come with a single reason of how it could
happen.

"Heero?  Do you know anything?" Quatre asked, hope clinging onto his
voice.

"No," Heero answered, crushing the hope down and Quatre returned his
eyes to the floor.  Drops of dry blood littered the carpet.

"Lets wait until Duo wakes up," Trowa said, trying to comfort his
falling friend and slowly laid a hand on his shoulder.  "He should
know something."

"And if he doesn't?" Wufei asked pointedly, eyes rising from the
floor to look at Trowa for the first time in the night.

"Then…Then he doesn't," Trowa answered, almost simply.  "Lets go
clean up."

*****

Duo stared blankly at the wooden wall before him, locks of brown
cascading over his king sized bed.  Black and red covers covered him
from the chest down as he laid down on his back, completely stiff and
rigid.  All life seemed to have drained from his face, leaving him
pale and his eyes almost hollow.  The light of humor was to a dim
glow, completely lost in empty thoughts for all he could see was red.

From behind him, Duo could hear the click of his door opened and
someone walking quietly inside, as if he was still asleep.  Duo
didn't move though, as he found himself he couldn't if he wanted to. 
Instead, he just listened to the person walk into the room and around
to the end of the bed and stop.  Duo felt the burning eyes upon his
skin, and Duo would have shifted uncomfortable at the powerful gaze. 
Only one person could make him feel uncomfortable.

Heero.

Slowly, using all of his mental and physical power, Duo turned his
head and met Heero's obsidian gaze.  Heero watched him blankly, hands
on the end of the bed.  He was cleaned up now, wearing his
traditional green tank top and some faded jeans.  They continued to
stare at each other, neither speaking nor really feeling the need
to.  Duo suddenly felt that under Heero's gaze, he was safe.  That he
was always being watched, for who would dare to penetrate such a
powerful stare.  Duo would have smiled if he had the strength.

Slowly, after another moment of staring at each other, Heero arched
an eyebrow.  Duo watched it with most keen interest and secretly, Duo
felt like beaming with glee.  Heero always did look so cute with that
look on his face; something rare the happy pilot ever saw.

Duo suddenly felt like a little kid under a parent's eye.  It was
comforting that he was being watched over.  No big bad monsters under
the bed going to get him.  No bumps in the night going to scare him. 
Again, the feel for smiling cursed through him but he couldn't crack
the grin.  It would be too much work.

Heero watched Duo carefully from the moment he had walked into the
room.  When the pilot had turned his head to him, he was almost
saddened by the look of misery in Duo's eyes.  He had never, ever
seen sorrow in his friend's eye and if it was depressing, it was more
so.  Duo was never depressed; it just wasn't his character.  But
Heero watched, amazed, as slowly the light was creeping back into the
happy pilot's gaze.  He didn't know where the joy was coming from but
there it was.  Was it his presence that was making the sorrow go
away?  That could be it…Maybe Duo was in need of support. 

Heero kept his gaze upon the unmoving ex pilot's body as he watched
it began to relax.  The boy didn't know it but his simple stare was
just making him feel better, physically and mentally.  Heero kept
back a smirk.  So the pilot was the one now in need of help instead
of giving it, ne?  Heero paused his thoughts for a moment then slowly
relaxed.  Duo needed him.  Needed to be watched and to be assured
everything was okay now.  Heero could do that.  I can do that.

Duo slowly sighed after a moment, sleep beginning to weigh heavily
on him.  Even if he didn't want to break the gaze Heero held, he
couldn't seem to keep his eyes open anymore.  Slowly, his head tilted
to the side and his eyelids closed before he knew it.  But even as he
began to drift off, Heero continued to watch him and beat away the
demons in his mind.

02 <--- Previous Chapter - Next Chapter ---> 04

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