A Murder of Crows
Title: A Murder of Crows
Part: 6/12
Author: KKChitown
Status: Final
Category: Fic
Rating: PG
Warnings: Language will always be a given with me. And I hope that
the end makes sense. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!
Feedback: You know you want to
Disclaimer: Duh.
A Murder of Crows: Part 6
By KKChitown
Someone is kissing me again. I'm back in the car, squeezed roughly
against the door. I can't open my eyes, but the feel of their hands
on me deters me from resisting. My arms are wrapped tightly around
his neck, refusing to let him slip away from me in the slightest, but
my efforts are in vain. He pulls back to breathe and that lustful
look on Trowa's face makes me blush again, losing myself in those
cold, ice blue eyes......
What? That's not right...
I sit up fast, startled, but I'm becoming more aware of reality and
my nightmares. Besides, Trowa only does something like that to me in
my dreams, that should have been the first clue.
I got my breathing under control gazing out of the window. The only
sign of the sun was a slight sliver above the horizon, indicating
early morning. Leaning back against the headboard, I let my mind
wander on the past few days, the information jumbled up inside my
brain. Injuries will do that to you. You won't know night from day,
up from down. You'll walk around in a complete state of confusion
when its dark. I wish my watch wasn't broken.
A slight noise to my left drew my attention. Trowa had moved the
chair from Duo's side of the bed to where I was laying. He sat in
his usual position: legs crossed, arms folded across his chest, his
face completely void of expression. How does he do it?
But I focus on his visible eye, a perfect shade of emerald green.
Good. One less thing to worry about right now.
I realize that he is staring at me. Maybe he is waiting for me to say
something. "Good morning Trowa." I know it's cheesy but what else can
I say, besides `Trowa, I think I am in love with you.' Right.
"Good morning Quatre."
Frowning, something occurred to me. "You didn't sleep at all, did
you?" Man, I hate guilt.
"No, but don't worry about it. I'm not tired. You need the rest
though, you were moaning in your sleep all night."
Oh, please, I hope I didn't, "Did I say anything?"
"Nothing I could make out." Good.
Stretching out, I yawned, trying tactfully to look at Trowa from the
corner of my eye. He is usually up before I am, or off on a mission,
so I never have the chance to just sit and look at him without
something disturbing me. A deep blue mark on the side of his face
caught my attention. Reaching across I instinctively clasped his
chin between my hands, examining the bruise.
"Trowa, what happened?" Before he had the chance to lie to me, I
recognized the small curvatures of knuckle across his chin, the one
in the middle shaped like a big O, and only one hand was small enough
to do that. "Oh no, Trowa, I-I.."
I snatched my hands away from his lovely face, burying my chin into
my chest. I had no right to hurt him that way, and from how I feel
he didn't retaliate. I did not deserve him, I don't deserve to be
forgiven.
"Quatre."
I shuddered slightly. That always happens when Trowa says my
name. "Yes."
"Don't worry about it. I don't blame you, it wasn't your fault. You
were stunned."
"Stunned? From what?"
"Last night, Duo was possessed and attacked you. You were dragged to
the pond where another boy tried to drown you, but you fought him
off."
"I don't remember. I remember the car and Wufei got hurt but after
that, I-I don't, can't remember...."
"Don't worry yourself. It will come to you later on, but it's
probably for the best if you don't remember right away."
"Oh." By now, Trowa's stare is intense. I can't stand looking at
him, even though he doesn't blame me for hitting him. I move my
glance to Duo lying beside me, taking up about 3/4's of the bed. His
body stretched with his feet at one end of the bed in the corner, to
the other end diagonally, with his arms sprawled across the bed to my
side, his elbow resting on my lap. I laughed lightly at the pilot
sucking his thumb. Some habits die hard.
Gathering my courage, I focus back on Trowa, his expression unchanged.
"Where's Wufei and Heero?"
"They left right after your staring contest." An almost microscopic
smile played across his lips, and I blushed a little bit. THAT I
remember. "They're going to steal some cars, hopefully they'll get
their hands on a bike too. We need to leave. Things are getting
intense."
"Yeah," was all I managed to say. All this stuff is happening and
right now all I can think of is Trowa getting into bed with me.
Focus, Quatre, focus.
Trowa's intense gaze wasn't helping me in the slightest. The one
visible eye had enough weight to pin me down to the bed, so all I
could do was stare back at him. And with the morning light barely
above the horizon, the orange light flowed into the room, casting a
gold sheen across his face. Trowa is absolutely gorgeous. It makes me
sick almost. I would've never met him if it wasn't for this war. I
don't know significant details about his past, but Duo could tell
certain things just by his behavior. He is really good at reading
people, and from what he told me, Trowa was most likely abused
throughout his childhood. Both physically and sexually. And to think
someone would be capable of doing something like that to Trowa makes
me truly angry.
If he would be with me, I will protect him from all of that, and
would never harm him. Even if he didn't want to be with me, I still
want to protect him from all of those things.
I love him, I know it now, but its driving me crazy.
And still we are sitting here, staring hopelessly at each other. I
don't even think I blinked yet. I am looking into his eye, but I can
see the rest of his face, especially his lips. I bet they are sweet,
and warm, and very soft.
I have to tell him how I feel. I'm so afraid though. What if he
rejects me? I know that things will probably go on as if I didn't say
anything, but that will always be in the back of his mind every time
he sees or speaks to me, right? But I know I am being ridiculous. Duo
and I have seen the way he looks at me sometimes, the way he touches
me when he thinks I'm asleep[3]. Trowa would not be the one to come
out and say it, that would have to be up to me. But I can't. Not yet.
Not until I have this business with Krahe figured out.
Duo, stirring in his sleep brought my attention back to him. Thank
Allah, I need the distraction. His eyes opened lazily, and yawning
loudly, he scratches his temples. At least he's not throwing
anything. He smiles at me, that warm, mischievous smile that I'm use
to, not that....other one. Suddenly, his eyes flew wide open and he
jumped out of bed, stumbling back facing me.
"Oh god, Quatre, stay away from me, I'm...."
"Duo, Duo no. It's okay. It wasn't your fault. I couldn't defend
myself against him, how could you?"
By this time I was making my way towards him on the bed. Trowa stood
up, walking around to intercept Duo, but he just backed his way
towards a corner, repeating over and over "I'm sorry."
"Duo, please," I pleaded, trying to will him back towards
me. "Please don't walk away from me." Off the bed, I grab his
hands, squeezing my fingernails in his palm. To walk away from me,
he was going to have to rip my hands off. I will make sure of it.
"Quatre," he started, tears in his eyes, but of course he won't
cry, "He's evil. He did this to get back at me, the bastard, and he
won't stop until he has you. Do you know what his soul told me?" Not
expecting an answer, he continued, "it told me to let you go, that
you want him and only him. It said that we should leave, because you
are going... home....with him. He thought you and I were,
were..uh..lovers."
I let my head drop to my chest. I figured as much. He might think
that since Duo and I spend almost all of our time together, and that
since we've been here, Duo's slept in my bed with me.
The next sound echoing in the room was laughter. It started out as a
weak chuckle, then slowly grew to a painstaking roar. Duo was
laughing. Hard. I looked to Trowa, who just returned my glance and
shrugged. I think Duo has just lost his mind.
"He-he hah, he thought you and I were LOVERS!" His hands fell away
from mine, clutching his stomach. As he rolled around on the floor,
a few weak chuckles passed through my lips while I dropped to my
knees, suddenly feeling drained. I can actually see the humor in
that, of course, nobody else can. But Duo and I knew better.
"Hoo! Oh man, that was great." He stood finally, brushing his pants
down and holding me by the wrists to help me up. When he let go,
blood clung on my wrists. He opened his hands to see some blood
flaking off his palms, but he didn't have any cuts. I opened my
hands to see even more semi dried blood, with gashes in my skin.
"Quatre, what happened?"
"I don't remem- Oh yes I do. I was praying for you last night and I
guess I held your cross too tightly." He glanced down at his bare
chest, the silver contrasting greatly against his tan skin, with the
traces of blood on it also.
"Trowa, could you leave us alone for a minute?" Duo asked but was
already shooing him to the door. Without another word he was out,
closing the door firmly behind him. Duo returned to me, his eyes on
the floor. He stopped a foot in front of me and stared. I know I was
only clad in my baby blue pajama pants bottoms, which he has seen and
borrowed, so that wasn't it. Following his gaze, I realized he was
looking at my chest: I had a long jagged cut that went from the
middle of my chest down beside my belly bottom. A few other cuts here
and there along with scraps also decorated my abdomen. The long cut
surprised me though, I can't recall how I got that, and it wasn't
there yesterday.
He then stepped up almost nose to nose with me and touched something
hard on my forehead. It felt like a knot. I flinched a little bit, so
it was still tender. I was afraid to look Duo in the eyes in case I
saw my reflection. From the expression on his face I looked terrible.
What on earth and the colonies happened last night?
Whatever it was, he shook it off and yanked the chain free from
around his neck. With the sharp edge on one of the clovers, he dug it
into his palm and sliced it open. I gasped.
"Duo, what are you doing?"
He didn't answer me, just focusing on his bloody palm. He turned my
palm over to reopen the cuts, but I didn't resist. Then, taking my
ring off he shoved it along with the cross in his pocket and held my
hand at shoulder level, palm to palm.
"Now, we are blood brothers. You can't die until I do."
With that I squeezed his hand harder, making sure that the blood
mixed. I have 29 sisters, and have been the only boy all my life.
Now I would finally have a brother. No longer friends, but family.
***
I'm sure Trowa was confused, even though he didn't say anything. Duo
and I sat next to each other side by side, our left hands completely
wrapped in gauze, grinning stupidly at each other. The gauze almost
swallowed my ring entirely. I had to keep readjusting the ring in
order to prevent it from cutting off my circulation.
Heero's cell phone rang, scaring the living daylights out of all of
us. It was only temporary, since no one really calls an unlisted
number and if so, it could only be one of five people.
"I'LL GET IT!" Duo launched himself over the table landing next to
the phone. He casually swiped the phone from off the floor answering
it.
"Duo here. Yo Wu-man, whats up? Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh-huh."
Listening to a one sided conversation is maddening, especially with
Duo. He didn't give any answers that would suggest the content of
the conversation. So I waited until he slapped the phone closed, and
gingerly made his way back to the table to finish breakfast/lunch.
He sat there, totally oblivious to me and Trowa waiting for him to
tell us what was said, inhaling his cheerios.
"What?"
"Duo, what did Wufei say?" I am about to throttle my new brother.
"Wufei? Oh yeah, he said that he and Heero managed to get their hands
on a 4-runner. After they pick up some supplies they will be on
their way back here. Heero wants to leave time they get back, so be
ready."
"When will they be back?"
"Later on tonight, at latest tomorrow morning."
"Why so long?"
"He said OZ is all over the place, fingerprinting, taking pictures.
Heero managed to get the film from a officer that took their pictures
and names. They will have to lay low for a while before sneaking
out."
"Where are they?"
"Dunno."
"As long as they are okay."
"Their fine, between justice boy and the `Perfect soldier' I wouldn't
worry about anything."
"Yeah, well let's clean up and wait for them to get back. All this
snow is starting to get to me. What needs to be packed? I know I
packed my bag last night and its in the wagon- No!" I screamed. I
did not want to go out there to get my bag. It all crashed down on
me at once: me and Duo in the car, Wufei, and on the ice, Duo's worn
body and the crows attacking them, Krahe falling through the ice and
I almost drowned...
"Quatre, say something Quatre!"
"Huh, wha-" Duo was on his knees, holding me in his arms. Trowa was
on my left, gently trying to shake my shoulder. Looking up towards
the ceiling, I realized I was on the floor.
"What happened?"
"One minute you were spouting orders, talking about packing and the
next minute WHAM! On the floor sprawled out like a rag doll. What's
wrong with you man?!"
"I, I just, sorry." I didn't want to think about it.
"Sorry my ass, you better tell me what is going on with you quick
like."
I sighed in defeat. "It all came back to me. Everything from last
night."
"Oh," Duo stated, the shock from his face wearing down.
"If you want me to," Trowa spoke up, breaking his usual air of
silence, "I will go get the stuff out of the car. You can finish up
whatever is upstairs, Duo and I will handle things outside."
"But how can you? Wufei and Heero took the wagon-"
"No," he interjected, "I dropped them off near a town and drove back.
Heero instructed me that if he and Wufei did not return in two days,
or if we did not hear from them then to leave with the wagon. It's
still here."
"Oh, alright," I murmured feebly. I still feel drained, but that
comes with the territory. All these months of fighting, I will be
grateful when the war is over. "Help me up then."
Duo and Trowa grabbed their respective elbow and brought me to my
feet as if I didn't weigh anything. Straightening my clothes out I
decided to go upstairs and get the stuff out of the bathroom and get
whatever is left or could be useful.
Duo had that devil grin on his face again. Oh no. I was afraid of
what he was going to do, so I held on to a chair in case he felt
compelled to drag me off somewhere. He looked up at the ceiling, his
grin getting even wider than before. Now we're in trouble.
"Duo, what are you grinning about?"
"Oh nothing, I just remembered a detail about last night too." For
some reason, I got very, VERY scared.
"Oh? What was that?"
Duo slowly licked his lips, switching his glare between me and
Trowa. Not the type of death glare Yuy would give, but more like an
inquisitive look. After he moistened his lips, he embarrassed me
like never before.
"Yeah, I almost forgot about me and Quatre in the car last night
because of that sicko." Then Duo turned his glare to Trowa, smacking
his lips. "But I have to say this, Trowa, you just don't know what
you're missing." He said that while winking and nodding his head to
me. I don't know what kept me from passing out. I did not want to
look at either of the two. Turning a beet red color, I stiffly walked
out of kitchen towards the safety of upstairs, while Duo's maniacal
laughter echoed behind me.
***
I can feel eyes. Lots of them. Walking through the dining room and
living room their gaze burns my back. On my way up the stairs I can
hear their whispers, but whatever is said I don't understand. Once
to my room, I noticed that the door was cracked somewhat. I pushed
it open with my foot, slowly, and let it stop itself against the
wall. The room was perfect: the bed was made, the candle still lit,
the wax as perfect as if it was made of stone. It was left burning
all night. I strolled over to the candle, letting my hand go over the
flame. I don't know why I did that or what possessed me to do it, but
the flame didn't emit any heat. It was like the light was my
imagination. It flickered when my hand moved above it, but it didn't
burn. Actually, it was very cold. A flame giving off cold? Right.
I turned away from the candle and saw the fireplace. There it was
with the boy, stretching out his arm to the crow, smiling sweetly,
the tree like a haven for them both. I can't believe I sneered at
it. I did, I sneered. I don't know why. I'm not bitter. Because
of what he put us through, Duo and I are closer than ever before, but
it's the fact that he involved them is what upsets me. If you want
me, come and get me. Leave the rest of them out of it. Especially
Trowa.
/Fine then./
I swung around too slow. Who said that? It sounded audible but it
might have been in my head. Duo and Trowa were outside, and I swear
I wasn't speaking out loud.
The sound of fluttering caught my attention to the window. There
were hundreds of crows outside; on the tree, on the gutter, on the
snow. I should have known better. After the `incident' last night,
there wasn't a trace of them anywhere. Now they are back with a
vengeance.
/Quatre./
I swung around again for the voice. I can't tell if its male or
female, not that I really care. It started out very subtle, a whisper
from this corner, then that, a few cackles from the crows outside.
Now it is overwhelming. The crows are starting to caw loudly, the
voice is repeating my name over and over, but not in the same place
or direction. I spin around again and again, frantically trying to
locate the source of the voice, even though I know I am alone in the
room.
That's it! I've had enough.
"You will not defeat ME!" I shouted with more conviction than I felt,
but it had an effect. The crows stopped with their noise, and the
voices quieted. I felt relief briefly before the sensation of
intense cold brushed against my back. Bright light blinded me,
forcing me to cover my eyes from the excruciating pain. The intense
cold brushes against me again, and I stepped forward to avoid it from
touching me. The cold waves followed my step, coming up behind me,
flowing against my hair, skin and ears. I move forward, trying to
shield my eyes from the light and not let the cold feel of whatever
it is touch me.
Something is in my way. I pull a latch open and stepped through
whatever opening I made for myself. The coldness is really intense
now, almost pushing me. I want it to stop, almost pleading. I moved
forward for the last time, but now I feel totally weightless.
Something is loud, screeching actually, but I can't hear it clearly.
The brightness died, so I uncovered my eyes in enough time to see the
white background outlined with crows before my world went black once
again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[3] This refers to an earlier chapter where Trowa gives Quatre
a `lustful look' as I put it and when Duo and Quatre had the
discussion that it wasn't his fault Quatre fell through the ice,
Trowa had came up and rested his hand on Quatre's forehead and
watched him sleep, thinking he was asleep. How sweet.
© 2000 by KKChitown. Please do not remove without permission.
