Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Because of You ❯ The Plain, the Grand, The Elegant, and the Forceful ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Title: Because of You
Author: Supurrkitty
Disclaimer: I do not own any Gundam wing characters, never have, never will, and that's it!


The Plain, the Grand, The Elegant, and the Forceful


Quatre knew his senses were returning to him when he realized he was no longer laying flat in inches of mud, but on a soft cushiony presence. He dared not open his eyes, but closed his fingers at his side. His hand was still covered in mud as he guessed the rest of his body was. But, the mud was thicker and crustier than before, it must have had time to dry. How long had he been out for?

Quatre sniffed the air lightly. Instead of the humid stench of the mixture of wet horse and urine he had been expecting, he was met with the aroma of what smelled like a hearty cooked meal. It was very welcoming and almost made him want to either go back to sleep, or get up and find out what was cooking.

After his few seconds of bliss, though, Quatre became fully aware of the affect of hitting his head on a metal pole. It seemed like every inch of his body ached, but mostly, his head. Quatre brought his dirty hands to hold his head, letting out a hiss of pain. He rolled onto his side, curling himself up.

Suddenly, he heard the murmuring of voices from behind a thin wall and the clanging of pots and other dishes, as well as feet shuffling on a hard, wood floor. A small pair of feet tapping on the floor seemed to get nearer. Maybe someone had heard him? Who were these people anyways? And, where was he?

His thoughts were interrupted by an excited shriek that made his head throb even more.

" ARGH!" Quatre quickly sat up, holding his head in both his hands.

" Mommy!!! Demi!! He's awake!! Mommy!!" The same voice shouted. The loud thumping on the ground led Quatre to believe that she was jumping up and down.

Quatre moved one of his hands out of the way and dared to peak to see what was going on. The light had affected him much like it would affect a heavy drinker with a hangover. He winced, closing his eyes temporarily, but opened them again. He looked ahead of him and saw a small girl with short, raven hair jumping up and down and pointing to him. Quatre blinked at her in confusion until a tall woman with wavy dark hair and dark eyes marched past the wall that he suspected all the others were seated. The woman gave him a smile, then looked down at the girl in a scolding manner.

" Eos!" She whispered harshly, putting her finger to her lips to hush her. Quatre was immeadiately grateful for the cease in loud noise and it aloud him to hear the scraping of chairs against the floor.
But, then, Quatre became a little nervous and hurt. Had Demetri abandoned him? She wasn't there. No, no one would do that, especially not Demetri. She was way too considerate to ever abandon an unconscious person lying in the mud next to a pen of horses.
Quatre looked at the doorway at the wall, growing even more confused as more people appeared, not coming closer, just sticking in the doorway.
There was a tall, older man with chocolate brown hair, who stood at the front, next to the motherly looking woman and the annoying little girl. There were two boys who crowded in to see, pushing each other to get a spot. The both looked like high school students and both had dark brown hair, though one was lighter than the other. Quatre simply blinked at them and they blinked back. Quatre could not remember when he had been more confused.

" Right," One of the boys, the older looking one with darker hair leaned against the wall, " Now, what -err who exactly are we looking at?"

" Hey!" Quatre heard a familiar voice and watched one of the boys get jerked into the other one. Demetri emerged from behind them, glaring madly at the two. " I'M the one who has to get through!!"

" Demetri, dear-" The older woman said soothingly, pointing to Quatre.

Demetri huffed, then turned and smiled at the blonde who was currently seated on her family's couch.

" You gonna live?" Demetri asked, seating herself next to him.

" Er...Yeah." Quatre took his hand off his head and away from his eye. Bad idea. Light invaded his other eye and led him to vocalize his pain. " Heh...I think, anyways..."

Quatre shifted so he could put his feet to the ground and, upon setting them down, he was shocked by a cold sensation that sent shivers up his leg. He looked down and realized his shoes were no longer on, nor his socks. He did not notice that Demetri was watching him with concerned eyes.

There was a shifting sound and a sigh from the doorway.

" Well, now that we've got THAT cleared up..." Quatre heard the same boy say and two pairs of feet tap out of the room. He looked over at Demetri, who was now focusing on the remaining crowd in the room. Her father nodded and walked out of the room, fallowed by his wife, who was dragging the little girl. Quatre heard the man mumble something about driving people to the hospital.

" And that..." Demetri turned back to Quatre and smiled, sheepishly. " ...was most of the Roswald family. I'll introduce you later."

Quatre nodded, feeling confused and lost. It must have been that blow to the head.

" Where are my shoes?" Quatre asked and both him and Demetri looked down to his feet.

" Oh," Demetri smiled widely, " It's a funny story, really... You see, I brought you in and all, with Blake's help, and we wanted to put you on this couch, but it took a while for us to convince mom. She was afraid that you would get it all dirty, but we convinced her that it's what Jesus would do. So, she let us, but said we had to take off your shoes, because it was bad manners to leave them on. Imagine, having bad manners when you're unconscious." Demetri laughed out loud.

Quatre would have laughed, but his head was aching him too much, so he resorted to a smile.

" You have a very large family..." Quatre said quietly.

" Strange, too. You didn't see all of them just now. You saw Blake earlier and Lee is camping on the lawn." Demetri said with a sigh. She looked at Quatre's confused face and didn't wait for him to ask for her to explain. " Lee is my only older sibling. Unfortunately, him and my father have had a...falling out, as it were, and my mother just doesn't have the heart to kick him out. If I remember correctly from Blake's account, Dad said ' I will not have ANY symbol of war in under MY roof, be it a weapon or my very own son!'. So, he moved out from under the roof and into the back yard. Blake says it was quiet a show..." Demetri trailed off, looking to the window, a faint smile on her face.

"'Symbol of war'? What did he mean by that?" Quatre asked.

" Well," Demetri turned her head back toward him, grinning sheepishly, " My brother wanted to join Preventers for a while now and only told me and Blake. You can't trust those two troublemakers of brothers..." Demetri frowned through the wall, where they could hear two boys laughing and the mother shouting at them to shut up and eat. " Anyways, my father has a conspiracy theory about that particular organization, unfortunately. Say anything anywhere near to the subject and he'll start going off on how they just want you to think they're helping us. He says, instead of putting out fires, they try to fan them. He says they can profit from it, because they're making weapons behind our backs and sell them to whoever wants to fight." Demetri laughed, " He can really be ridiculous sometimes. I mean, this is a government agency we're talking about, not some secret society. They're connected to all kinds of other agencies" Demetri sighed again. " Try to tell dad that, though, and you get kicked into the backyard. I haven't been able to speak to Lee, yet..."

Quatre was awestruck. He never thought that anyone would ever think that way about Preventers. He felt he had somewhat of an insider view, having helped form and fund it himself, even though, as Demetri had said, it was a government agency. He was also pretty sure it had not turned into what this man feared, having contacted Wufei more than once each year, who was usually stationed at the main office. But, this opened a new light to Quatre. For those who didn't know all that he did, who never knew when the Preventers barely averted the outbreak of another war, who were never told about any tensions or forming of conspiring organizations, what did those millions of people think? Quatre knew some were glad to just leave it to other people to deal with and be happy and content with the peace, confident all would be taken care of. But, Quatre also knew that those people were few.

" Do a lot of people think that?" Quatre asked and Demetri gave him a sympathetic smile.

" You don't get out much, do you?" Demetri's smile faded when Quatre seemed to get paler. " I'm afraid, you hear all kinds of theories, especially on Earth. But none crazier than the insane ones you hear in the rodeo crowd."

Quatre looked back down at his feet, suddenly becoming nauseas. Is this what people really thought of the peace he fought to establish and keep?

" But, you got your believers, too." Demetri smiled at him, " Overall, people really want peace. Some of them just think we're going about it wrong or that the system is going to blow up in our faces." Demetri let out a dark laugh.

" It's worked so far, hasn't it?" Quatre said, coldly. Demetri blinked at him and then stood up.

" C'mon," She smiled, " Let my mom feed you and then she'll give you back your shoes."

" No, that's okay" Quatre said, standing slowly to try and avoid the dizzy spell that soon fallowed. " I don't want to intrude..."

" Quatre, my mom's not going to take no for an answer. You should just come willingly. Either way, you're going to leave here on a full stomach, believe me." Demetri put her hand on her hipped and raised and eyebrow.

Quatre wasn't quite sure what to say to her as she turned around. If this was the only way he'd get his shoes back, fine, but his head was killing him and he wanted nothing more than to curl up in his bed and sleep, possibly never waking up again. He had to admit, though, the food had been calling to him since before he knew where he was and he did find Demetri's family amusing.


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Quatre used his fork to move the food on his plate around. He thought he had been starving and was very grateful for the food, but now he didn't think he could take another bite. Demetri's mom had already piled well over two helpings of home-fried chicken, potatoes, biscuits, peas, and corn on the cob. All, besides the black coffee on the side, of which was drowning in thick gravy. It made Quatre's arteries clod just looking at it. He wondered how the whole family had managed to stay so healthy. He then figured it must have been the amount of work they did in a day.

Quatre was just listening to Mrs. Roswald explain how she had grown all of the vegetables and fruit, and raised the chickens of which they were then eating (she had a peach cobbler waiting in the oven), when there was a loud bang from outside the kitchen door. The whole family stood at once. Quatre watched them and soon fallowed order. They quickly filed out of the kitchen and into the humid night. No light was present, because the moon had not yet come up, but half the family took off into the darkness. Demetri stayed behind, sticking next to Quatre, which he was very grateful for. He looked to his side to see Mrs. Roswald and the little girl had stayed behind, too. Quatre heard a door open at the house, and looked in time to see Blake, his hair now down and wearing pajamas. Blake peered out while tripping over himself as he tried to put on a pair of boots. He gave out a sharp curse and shoved his foot the rest of the way into the right boot; promptly taking off in the same direction the other boys had gone in.

Loud noises could now be heard from that direction. Bangs, stomping, clanging, shouts, even the sound of something hitting flesh.

" Coming your way!!" A shout came from that direction.

" What does he mean by that?" Quatre asked quickly and cautiously.

But, he never got his answer. Loud Thumps on the ground could be heard, like the galloping of hooves. Quatre looked over at Demetri and the others and was swept with fear. Mrs. Roswald was rushing a terrified Eos back into the house, something more than concern on her face as well. Demetri, on the other hand, stomped forward, rage apparent in her features. Quatre looked at her in disbelief as she scrambled to grab some twine from a bale of straw. She looked back at Quatre and glared at him for the first time.

" Quatre, Go!" Demetri shouted at him, then turned from him, looking towards the nearing thuds of hoof against ground.

Quatre looked at her with concern, before scurrying to the house, no going inside, but sticking to the side as far as he could.

Demetri stood straight, twine half stuck in her pocket, looking bravely towards the nearing creature. The hooves slowed, sensing the light ahead of it from the porch light. Demetri looked around her, wildly, then set her sights on a small bucket next to the house. She scooped it up and held it forward in one of her hands, bouncing it up and down making it's contents rattle inside. The hooves came to an immediate halt, making dust rise in the air, discoloring the stars. It sounded as if it changed directions. Maybe it wasn't heading towards them the whole time. Then the creature took two steps forward before picking up it's pace again, but this time a steady trot.

Quatre watched as a wildly spotted horse stepped into the circle of light, it's head stretched towards Demetri, sniffing the air around her. Demetri clucked at it and it stuck its head deep into the bucket, obviously eating, bringing it's head up every now and then. Demetri reached out and touched its shoulder. It flinched then took a step back, but buried its head into the bucket again. Demetri touched it again, this time it did not flinch, so she patted it and smiled to herself.

Quatre watched her as she dealt with the horse as if she were one herself. Soon, the food was gone, but the horse stayed, ears forward, watching Demetri. It's sides stopped heaving with deep breath and it let out steady sighs. She set down the bucket and took the twine out of her pocket. She patted the horse and spoke to it soothingly, while she constructed a makeshift halter and lead rope.

Demetri sighed, triumphantly and looked back over to the house. Catching Quatre's eye, she gave him an apologetic smile. Quatre just smiled back with a nod.

Demetri's younger brothers had long since returned, but her father was not there. Mrs. Roswald stepped outside the door and scolded Eos to stay inside. She smiled proudly at her daughter with a strange, yet knowing look. Demetri quickly turned from her and frowned to herself, focusing on the horse.

" Nice one..." One of the boys, of whom he was introduced to as Icarus, better known as Icky, just outside the other side of the light said.

" Yeah, again..." The other one, Lucky (named for his incredible luck since birth) said kind of coldly.

Demetri ignored them and pet the horse, her eyes shining with something Quatre couldn't understand.

Then, the scurrying of feet could be heard from out of the darkness. Mr. Roswald had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, clutching the back of another boys shirt. The boy was being shoved forward time and time again.

" Alright, alright, I get it!" The boy had said, which only seemed to make Mr. Roswald angrier, his face glowing red with rage.

" You did this, Leander, I know you did, you ungrateful little leech!" Mr. Roswald said, shoving the boy to the ground mere yards from Quatre. The horse shifted nervously on its back legs.

" Like hell I did! You're just trying to find a better reason to throw me off your property. Even you don't half believe those conspiracy theories you like to form in you head..." The boy said, pushing himself up from the ground. Mr. Roswald looked as if he was going to explode.

" Dad," Demetri said calmly, ignoring the boy on the ground, who was now sitting cross-legged, plucking up blades of grass thoughtlessly.

" What!?" Mr. Roswald said, too harshly, but caught himself and corrected it. " What? What is it, dear?"

" I thought you said you were going to geld him, for his own sake..." Demetri said, quietly, something strange in her voice, Quatre couldn't quite make out.

" Well, dear..." Mr. Roswald seemed to calm down and looked at his oldest daughter with kind eyes. " I...well..." He looked around at the people crowded around, taking a longer look at Quatre. " We'll discuss it later. For now...put him in the arena, we'll think of something else tomorrow..."

Demetri just nodded and walked back into the lightening night, tugging the horse carefully behind her. The moon had just started to appear over the mountains in the distance.

Quatre watched her leave, and then realized he was still glued to the side of the small house. He pushed himself off of it and looked in what light he had. The two boys moved for Demetri to get past, so they were now in the middle of the light, looking down at the boy on the ground, suppressing laughter. Mr. Roswald shifted his eyes from the boy on the ground, who was looking quite bored with the scene and leaning on his hand, to the two standing side by side and gave them a cool glare. The boys, though still cackling, moved towards the kitchen door. Mr. Roswald glared once more at the boy, who just gave him a swift sideways glance, and proceeded to fallow the two young boys into the kitchen. Quatre looked to his right and saw Blake go back in through the door he came out of, mumbling and cursing to himself.

Quatre sighed and shifted uncomfortably, waiting for Demetri to come back.

" So, You my sister's boyfriend?" The boy from the ground said, pushing himself from the ground. Quatre looked over at him, able to get a better look. The boy was tall, a little taller than him. He had a clean-shaven, thin face. Strands of black hair were scattered in front of his blue eyes. His face was outlined in hair that came out of his long ponytail, which traveled all the way down his back. His hair was longer than Demetri's.

" Uhh..." Quatre flushed slightly at what he said, " N-no...I'm just some guy who hit his head on a pole..."

The boy laughed and pulled some hair from his face.
" Sounds like someone Demetri would pick up..." The boy smiled and held out his hand. " My name is Leander, sometimes called Leo, but, please, for the love of god, call me Lee."

The boy said this all in the same tone, with a straight face. Quatre hesitated first, then stuck his hand out and shook Lee's.

" Yeah," Quatre said carefully, " Demetri told me about you. I'm Quatre."

" Oh, so you know I'm the traitor rebel of the family?" Lee asked, pulling his hand back. He had an amused note in his tone.

" Demetri doesn't think of you like that." Quatre said, suddenly.

Lee looked him up and down, and then gave him a questioning look.

" How long have you know my sister?"

Before Quatre could answer, Demetri emerged from the shadows. It was evident she had been crying, even though she tried to hide it. This took Lee by surprise more than Quatre, but neither of them said anything.

" You harassing our guest, Lee?" Demetri said, sarcastically, giving her brother a slight shove and a forced smile. Lee smiled back and patted Demetri on the head.

" Nice to see you again, Dusty." Lee said with a small wink.

" Dusty?" Quatre blurted out again.

" Uh...people used to call me that, it was...a rodeo thing." Demetri said, looking to the side, trying to hide her expression.

" She was really well known as Dusty," Lee said, " Even when the arena had been wet down and other riders were slipping, she knew how to make her horses kick up the most dirt on sharp turns. They even said that she was solely responsible for the coughing fits in the bleachers. It was so hard to keep track of her to see how her times were, because we couldn't see a thing until she came galloping out of the cloud of dust and ran past the timer. It was rather amazing." Lee chuckled and smiled, running his hand though his long hair.

Quatre looked back over at Demetri. She had a painful expression on her face, but also a look of longing. She looked back at the two and gave a wide smile. Quatre shuddered at its falseness. She was really trying too hard. Lee knew it, too.

" Well, I should probably get Quatre back." Demetri said, " Do you want to stay with me for a while, Lee?"

" Really?" Lee asked with a genuine smile " You mean it, little sister?"

Lee hugged her tightly, so that she had to pry him off of herself.

" Of course," Demetri said, straightening her clothes and smoothing her hair, " You are my brother, after all."

" Yeah, try telling the others that..." Lee grumbled, glaring at the door.

" Come off it," Demetri said, slapping his shoulder, " Blake is still on your side, and Mom kind of is..."

" Yeah, she brings me food sometimes." Lee said with a quick smile, " But not today..." He whined.

" Quit whining," Demetri demanded, " I've got left over Chinese at my place you can have a go at."

" Thanks!" Lee said, hugging her again, promptly getting pushed off.

Lee was definitely different from the other boys in her family. He wasn't distant and quite like Blake, or rude and mischievous like Lucky or Icky had seemed. He didn't seem to fit with the family all too well. Quatre was quite certain that none of the other guys would ever try to hug anyone besides their own mother.

" Well," Demetri turned to Quatre, " Let's go say goodbye to the others and get going."

Quatre nodded and fallowed her to the kitchen, where the family, minus Blake and Lee, sat around the kitchen table, about to be served cobbler. They all stopped and looked up at the two, making Quatre nervous and stand back slightly.

" Well, Quatre needs to get back now, so we'll be heading off." Demetri explained. " I'll see you guys tomorrow, maybe."

Demetri's mom came and pulled her into a hug.

" Be safe." She said, and then went back to cutting the cobbler.

Eos came and hugged her sister, whining. The boys just nodded to her and she smiled back. Mr. Roswald got up and patted her on the shoulder.

" Make sure you come often, now." He said, a small smile on his face.

" Sure dad," Demetri smiled up at him. Then, he moved over to Quatre, holding out his hand.

" I'll probably be seeing you around, boy." Mr. Roswald said, not smiling.

" Uhh..." Quatre shook the mans hand to find that he had a very hard grip, " It was a...uh...pleasure meeting you and your...family, sir."

The man looked at him for a second, and then patted his shoulder so hard, that Quatre had to catch himself on a wall to keep from tripping. When Mr. Roswald turned away, Quatre rubbed his hand and rolled his shoulder. Demetri smiled back at him, with an amused look on her face.

" Oh," Mrs. Roswald turned back to them, " Your shoes."

Quatre looked down, noticing his feet were still bare, but now dirty with blades of grass in between his toes.

Mrs. Roswald opened the cupboard under the sink and took out a pair of muddy, still wet dress shoes and handed them to Quatre.

" I hope they aren't real leather," Mrs. Roswald said, " I'm afraid they're ruined if they are..."

" No," Quatre lied, " They'll be fine."

He decided to not put the shoes on and they started to walk out again while he was still barefoot.

" Wait!" Mrs. Roswald called to them. They stopped and looked at her expectantly. " Since you can't eat any Cobbler right now, you should take some with you." She said, mainly to Quatre.

" Oh, no thank you, Mrs. Roswald. I'm quite full, but thank you." Quatre said, trying to fit in as many thanks as he could.

The whole family seemed to look up at him, with a surprised look. Mrs. Roswald had a sorry look on her face. Quatre looked at Demetri, she smiled and raised her eyebrows at him, giving a small nod.


A/N- This one was a little different from the other chapters, not to mention longer. Don't you just love Demetri's family? It's so big and different and...scary...