Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Deceptions ❯ The Lie ( Chapter 8 )

Deceptions Part 8: The Lie

By Symee-Sama

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews! Sorry this chapter took so long. I had a hell of a time writing some parts of it.

Quatre sat in one of the hard plastic chairs in the hospital waiting room. You would think that they would try to make your stay a bit nicer. He thought quietly. Considering all the time that some people had to sit here. Maybe he could do something to help! Maybe he could make a small donation to the hospital, and they would replace these chairs with some nicer ones. But what about the other hospitals? Maybe small donations to each of the hospitals in the area…

Quatre shook himself from his reverie. Had he really spent the last two hours thinking about hospital chairs? He glanced at his watch. No, he hadn't. He had spent the last three hours thinking about hospital chairs. He reached for the nurse as she walked by him. "Excuse me, miss." He said politely. "Could you tell me how my friend is?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Winner." She said without any apology in her voice. "The doctors are very busy. You will just have to have some patience." She said and walked away.

"Patience?" Quatre watched her leave, dumbfounded. "Three hours without a complaint, and I'm impatient?" He'd had enough with patience. He walked over to the front desk, and asked to see the registry. He quickly scanned the pages. "Bargos… Barry…Barton! Room 216." Quatre thanked the nurse, and made his way to Trowa's room.

"Trowa?" he knocked hesitantly before entering the room. "How are you feeling?"

"How do I feel?" Trowa laughed. "I have a bullet in my arm!" Quatre took a good look at his friend. The blood had been cleaned away, and bandaged, but the bandages had long been soaked through. The bruises on his throat hadn't been treated yet, and when Trowa spoke, his voice was raspy. "Hospitals are so efficient these days." He glared at the doctor as he entered the room. "What took you so long?"

Quatre laughed for a moment at the doctor's discomfort before becoming serious again. "You have been sitting for three hours with a bullet in your arm?" Trowa nodded, and Quatre frowned. "That won't do. Come on. Hurry up." He scolded the doctor. "We've wasted too much time here."

"We should have gone to the Preventors medical centre with Wufei." Trowa remarked. "They would've helped us much quicker." Quatre nodded. "Why didn't we go with him?"

"Because the ambulance came and took you away before we could go with them, and I wasn't going to leave you alone." Quatre explained. "We were both in shock, I think. Wufei told me that we were talking about Catherine's hospital bills after I burst in."

Trowa gave him a troubled look. "I wonder how Relena is." He said sadly. "Is she even alive?"

"Don't think like that." Quatre admonished him. "Relena's strong! She'll make it through this!" His expression fell. "I have to believe that she will make it through this!"

"Quatre," Trowa began. "It's been over a month, and we haven't even got a lead." He grimaced slightly when the doctor pulled the bullet from his shoulder. "There isn't much chance that she's alive. Heero was our last resort, and he's dead."

"No he's not." Quatre said vehemently, and continued before Trowa could protest. "I could feel it. He was still alive. The Preventors will realise it." Trowa was confused for a moment before he realised that Quatre was talking about the `ability' he had to feel the pain, and sense the feelings of others.

"Was he dying?" Trowa asked, and Quatre shook his head.

"He might have if they just left him there, but Heero is strong. He'll survive, and then he can tell us where Relena is." Quatre's eyes narrowed. "And then he'll pay for all the things that he's done." Trowa noticed the sadness in the blonde's eyes, and remembered that Quatre had lost a sister. "I miss her, Trowa. Why did she have to die?"

The doctor finished bandaging Trowa's shoulder, and handed him some cream. "Apply this to your neck, and the bruises should fade in a couple of hours." He said solemnly, and walked out of the room, leaving the two young men alone.

Trowa placed his hand on Quatre's shoulder. "Let's get out of here." He suggested. "We've wasted enough time. We should go to Wufei and find out what's going on." Quatre nodded and the two friends walked out of the hospital.

"If we have to visit there again," Quatre smiled slightly. "I'm going to donate money so they can buy new chairs." And for the second time that day, Trowa laughed.

* * * * *

Heero's eyes snapped open. Where was he? He scanned the room quickly. A hospital. Probably a military one. He tried to move his arms, and realised that he had been strapped down. Damn it! He had failed both missions. He hadn't been able to kill Barton, and the doctors were still in danger of being discovered. Even worse he had been captured, and stabbed. Again.

That bitch, he seethed. He had been so close to killing Barton, and then she had to interfere again. And now he had another scar. That was what, the fourth time he'd been stabbed within the space of a week? If the situation hadn't been so dangerous, he would have laughed. The perfect soldier had fallen. He had messed up. How could he have misjudged so badly?

//It was an unforeseen circumstance.// Heero suppressed the urge to smile when Zero entered his mind. //You could have done nothing to prevent it. Who would have thought that the girl would have a knife? Or that she would still be able to throw it in her condition?//

Heero relaxed, and submitted to the familiar golden light. Everything was all right now because Zero was there, and he would know what to do, how to escape. Zero? He spoke tentatively in his mind. What are we going to do?

//There is nothing that we can do at the moment.// Zero told him. //You will have to wait, and when the time is right, you will escape. All you have to do is not give any information about the Vice Foreign Minister, and you will not have failed your mission.//

Heero resisted the urge to laugh. Like I would, he replied. That bitch is going to get what's coming to her. But what about the doctors? Are they all right?

//Now that they've found you, the Preventors have stopped searching L1. The doctors are safe, but they are counting on you to make sure that you don't talk.//

They have no reason to worry. Heero reassured him. They won't break me. They'll kill me before I talk. I won't fail you or the doctors again.

//Good.// Zero's voice faded away in his head, and the golden light receded. Heero heard footsteps, and closed his eyes, schooling his breathing as someone entered the room. He heard the heavy footsteps walk up to the table he was strapped to.

"Stop faking, Yuy." Zechs said calmly. "I saw your eyes open a moment ago." He heard the other man pull a chair beside the table. "Here's the deal. We'll treat you nicely if you tell me where my sister is." Zechs leaned over the bed. "But if you don't…" Zechs pressed his thumb into Heero's shoulder and smiled slightly when the younger man stiffened, and clenched his teeth.

"Do what you want." Heero said through clenched teeth. Relena would die, even if he wasn't the one to do it, she would die. As long as he didn't tell them where she was, the doctors would make sure that she was disposed of when her owner was finished with her. "It won't help you. Besides ESUN laws state that a prisoner must not be mistreated."

"A dead man is outside the law." Zechs said with a grin. "And Relena is well-liked, no one will object to the methods we use. I've been waiting a long time for this day." He pulled out a small patch and placed it on Heero's arm. "Modern science is wonderful isn't it? Now, you don't need a needle to administer medicine, you only need this patch."

"You drugged me!" Heero accused the older man, and groaned softly when the room seemed to spin around him. Darkness was starting to gather on the edges of his vision, and with the last of his strength he spat out his defiance. "Damn you." He snarled before his eyes rolled back into his head, and the world went black.

* * * * *

"The mission was a failure." Professor G observed blandly. "The experiment was a failure. Your perfect soldier was captured. Our lives are in jeopardy now." He waited for a response from the other man, but when he received none, he continued. "We should leave this colony."

"Have you forgotten what we're here for, G?" Doctor J stared at him pointedly clacking the fingers of his mechanical arm together. "Our lives are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that truly matters is the experiment, and that has not failed!"

"But 01 was captured!" Professor G said mildly. "The perfect soldier shouldn't allow himself to get captured." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "We should've chosen Duo." He grumbled. "He was affected much worse by the Zero system."

"Duo Maxwell had too many connections, and would be missed." J pointed out. "Heero disappears so often, that it wasn't unusual when he went missing. Everyone thought that he didn't want to be found, and didn't bother to look for him. That is the reason we chose Heero Yuy, G. Not because he was my protégé." He smiled wickedly. "Besides, the experiment has not failed. Heero Yuy was the perfect soldier. He had no problems handling 03, even though he had three barely healed stab wounds."

"But still- " G began, but was cut off by the doctor's upraised claw.

"It was due to unforeseen circumstances that 01 was captured. We didn't realise that 03's sister was still capable of wounding our soldier and we dismissed her. It's our fault that the boy was taken by the Preventors. I'm actually surprised that he's still alive."

"But how can we continue the experiment?" G asked. "There is no way that we can send him on missions when he's strapped down to a table!"

"The whole point of the experiment was to see the effect that the Zero implant would have on a person." Doctor J began tiredly. "It had nothing to do with the missions. This experiment was designed to prove that we could manipulate the actions of a conscious person through artificial brain waves, and reconstructed memories." He gestured towards the equipment all around him. "That was a success, and since we can't use 01 anymore, I see no reason why we shouldn't test the Zero system's highest frequencies."

"That could do serious damage to the mind of the pilot." G warned needlessly. "You could destroy what's left of Heero Yuy."

"I stopped caring about Heero Yuy a long time ago." Doctor J brushed aside the warning, and turned back to his console to study the brain patterns after the last hallucination, an estranged look in his eyes. "All that matters now is the experiment."

* * * * *

Duo smiled happily, and hugged his girlfriend closer to his chest. God, he had missed her. Having her back made him feel like he was whole again. He wanted to hold her tight and never let her go, but- he had lost all feeling in his arms, so…

"Hilde," he whispered to her, and she moaned softly in her sleep, unconsciously hugging him tighter. "Hilde," Duo said again. "Come on, we've got to get up." He tried to move her off his lap and on to the couch, but she held tight. "C'mon, we gotta move sometime."

"Why?" came the sleepy reply, and Duo laughed softly before replying.

"Because my arms and legs have gone numb." He explained, and she grudgingly moved off of him. "Hey, Hilde. I've got an idea." Duo informed her as he walked awkwardly around the room, trying to force some feeling into his legs. "How `bout the next time we decide to take a nap, I sit on your lap." He smirked at her, and she threw a pillow at him, which he dodged easily.

"Hil," he began quietly, looking at the floor. "Why did you come back?"

"I realised that you were right." She explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "This doesn't seem like the Heero you were talking about, and yeah, I know people can change, but this is kinda drastic isn't it?"

"That's exactly what I said before!" Duo said and crossed his arms. "Why didn't you agree with me then?"

"Because I was angry!" Hilde shot back, her temper rising. "My friends had been seriously hurt in a terrorist attack, and then I find out the terrorist is your best friend! How am I supposed to feel?" She asked and he shrugged his shoulders. He still didn't know how to feel about this whole mess. "I just couldn't deal. So, you were right. I was wrong. Let's leave it at that."

"Life would be a lot easier if you would just admit that I'm always right." Duo smiled at her, and she punched him playfully. "What? I was serious!" He said with his most innocent look, and she threw another pillow at him, which hit him in the head. "Ouch." He held his head in his hands. "I think you've killed me!" He fell to the floor in an exaggerated death pose.

Hilde laughed. "Get up you idiot!" She moved to the kitchen, and grabbed a pair of scissors. "Or I'll cut off your braid!"

Duo was up in a flash, and backed away from the small woman in front of him. "Now Hilde." He began nervously. "Let's not do anything hasty." He held up his hands in mock surrender, and was about to dash past her, when the vid-phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Hilde said, and ran to pick it up.

"Figures," Duo ran a hand through his bangs. "She's been back for less than a couple hours, and she's already taken control of the phone." He heard Hilde calling his name, and turned to face her. "What's that?" He asked.

"Quatre's on the phone!" Hilde called to him, and he ran into the other room. Maybe Quatre had some information about the kidnapping! He ran into his room, and after shutting the door, he switched on the video and audio feeds for the phone. "What's up Quatre?" He asked quickly. "Did anything happen?"

"Yeah," Quatre began. "Something really big - "

"Well, c'mon!" Duo interrupted him. "Don't keep me in suspense!"

"Don't interrupt me, and I won't." Quatre smiled, and Duo pretended to zip his lips. "That's better. Heero attacked Trowa."

"What!" Duo yelled, and Quatre groaned in frustration.

"Would you stop interrupting me?" He asked, and when Duo nodded he continued. "He didn't manage to kill him though." He saw Duo open his mouth, and held up a hand to silence him. "He tried to choke Trowa to death, but he was stabbed before he could finish."

"By who?" Duo asked.

"By Catherine." Quatre said quietly. "She threw a knife at him."

"So is she back to normal then?" Duo asked him hopefully, and grimaced when he saw Quatre shake his head.

"No," Quatre told him. "She's much worse now." Duo felt like he had been punched. She could get worse? She was already acting like a child. What could be worse? "Yes, she can get worse. Now she only says that she's a murderer, and that she killed Heero." Duo looked at him strangely. Had he just used that weird telepathic thing of his?

"Yes I did." Quatre confirmed, and Duo had to stop himself from gaping. "Don't worry, I won't do it to you anymore." He promised. "I read Heero's mind while he was unconscious- "

"You mean he's not dead?" Duo exclaimed and when the blonde man nodded he want to cheer. "We can find out what's wrong with him!"

"Um.." Quatre started to look uncomfortable. "We've already got an idea of what made him kidnap Relena." He began, and when Duo urged him to continue, he flushed slightly. "I don't know how to say this, but the reason he did it…"

"Spit it out!" Duo yelled, and Quatre flinched slightly.

"He thinks that Relena killed you." Quatre said, and then frowned. "Duo?" But Duo couldn't hear. He was already out the door and sprinting down the hall.

* * * * *

Heero woke to Zechs touching his arm. What? He opened his eyes slightly before groaning and closing them again. Zechs' face was not a fun thing to wake up to. "Don't touch me." Heero growled, and felt relief wash over him as the older man moved his hand away.

"Calm down, Yuy." Zechs sneered. "I'm just getting rid of the patch." Heero moved his arms experimentally and realised that he wasn't tied up. The fool! Did he expect him to just sit here, and let them try to extract information from him? He nearly laughed at the older man's stupidity as he lashed out, punching Zechs in the stomach.

Zechs doubled over, and Heero sprinted towards the door, only to be thrown back into the room by Wufei. "Did you really think that we'd let you get away that easily?" The Chinese man sneered, pulled out his gun, aiming it at Heero. "Take a seat," he gestured towards a metal chair with leather bindings on it, and Heero sat down, letting Zechs strap him down.

"Now, Yuy," Zechs began. "Where's my little sister?" Heero looked at him blankly. "Where's Relena?" He grabbed Heero's shirt. "I know you can tell me!" Heero expression didn't change, and Wufei snorted.

"What did you drug him with?" He asked, and holstered his gun. "He's completely out of it." He waved his hand in front of Heero's face, but the pilot couldn't see him.

Zero? Heero called tentatively. Are you there?

There was no answer, and Heero called louder, until his mental cries became so loud that they seemed to echo inside his head. But still, Zero didn't come. There was no reassuring voice. No golden light to protect him, and for the first time in months, Heero felt like he was alone. Zero!

Heero started to sweat. He said he wouldn't leave. He'd promised! He'd said he wouldn't leave. Zero! Where are you? He called over and over again. Had he been abandoned? Had Zero abandoned him because he'd been captured? He was alone. Heero wanted to scream. Zero had said that he'd never be alone!

"Yuy!" The sound of Zechs' voice, and the sting of the blow to his jaw brought Heero back to reality. "What the hell happened?"

"I'm alone." Heero said softly, and hung his head. "He promised."

"What?" Wufei was beyond confused. "What the hell are you talking about Yuy?" He asked, but Heero ignored him. He looked at Zechs, who shrugged his shoulders. "Answer me!" He grabbed Heero's shirt and pulled Heero as far out of the chair as the restraints would allow. "What are you talking about?"

"Leave him alone," came a voice from the hallway, and Heero's head snapped up so violently, Wufei was surprised that he hadn't hurt his neck.

"Duo?" Heero's voice was hoarse as he watched the braided pilot walk into the room. "No! You're dead!" He averted his gaze and stared at the floor. "I saw you die!"

Duo walked over to him, kneeling until he was eye level with his best friend. He smirked slightly. "You of all people should know that you can't kill death."

Author's Note: What did ya think?