[Log] Recovery
Characters: OU Heero Yuy, AU Quatre Winner
Where: The stairwell of Apartment 2 and then Om Pente
When: Backdated to right after Heero's fight with Melaka Fray.
Summary: Quatre finds Heero and he isn't looking so great.
Warning: None
Quatre had just been able to get away from Wufei's apartment. Heero was in trouble, and he knew it....but it was best kept from Wufei for now. The Chinese pilot would certainly not react well to Heero getting hurt, though who exactly had done it Quatre didn't know yet.
He was worried himself....large eyes scanned the hallway as he focused his abilities and tried to locate the other. nothing came into view, but he knew the Japanese pilot was not here. Perhaps he was still in Om? After a cursory search, Quatre made his way out of the building, and headed to his own, eyes open for his friend the whole way.
(Nothing came up, though there were a mess of footprints in the snow around the second building, so he checked the perimeter. Still nothing.
A sense of panic was starting to form in his stomach, but he didn't give into it. Hoping Heero was inside, he went in and climbed the stairs, but no trace of the other boy presented itself, until he reached the second landing. A familiar figure sat on the bottom step, hunched into himself.
"Heero..." Quatre breathed, then scrambled up the stairs to him.
Heero blinked at the sound of Quatre's voice, looking up a bit blearily. His head throbbed from the impacts it had taken and it was starting to hurt to breathe.
Quatre fell to his knees in front of Heero, taking the other boy's face gently between his hands. "What happened?" he asked quickly, but there was a note of fear in his voice. As Heero answered, he checked him over for major wounds, assessing the damage.
The first thing Quatre would notice was the bruise on his forehead from the head-butt and the marks Melaka had left on his throat. He hesitated to give a straight answer, but he wasn't thinking well enough to lie. "It wasn't...I mean...nothing..."
An irritated noise hissed from between the blond's clenched teeth. "*Heero*..." He had just pulled the collar of Heero's coat away to reveal the ugly bruising there, and wasn't going to let this go, not with *that* staring him in the face.
"Hmm?" Heero blinked at him, then winced and reached for the back of his head.
Quatre's fingers met his, and he hissed again, feeling a hot lump the size of a golfball. "Allah...Heero, let me see it!" The other's hand had to be shooed away, and Quatre crawled up next to him to get a better look. "Who did this to you?" he asked again, more firmly this time.
Heero sighed heavily. "I don't want anyone going after her," he murmured. "It has to end. She could have killed me and she didn't."
The hands stilled for a moment, then rested on his shoulder. "It was Melaka....wasn't it?" he asked Heero quietly.
He paused, then nodded. "Yeah."
Quatre chewed his lower lip. After a pause, he stood up, then bent over to help Heero stand as well. "Come on...let's get you into bed." He was worried about his friend, and this was not the place to talk, anyway.
Heero groaned as he stood, clutching his side. He had tried to dodge a kick aimed for his midsection and it had caught his side instead. It hurt. A lot worse than if he had just taken it straight on.
Quatre caught and held him for a moment, eyes going to the area with concern. "Are they broken?" he asked, testing Heero to see if he could walk. Quatre would put him on his back if he had to, but wasn't sure if he could...
"No," he winced. He could walk, he was just a little off balance.
Wrapping an arm around Heero's shoulders, Quatre supported him as they scaled the steps, but said nothing more for now. He was busy thinking about what he had just been told by Wufei, and then by Heero himself.... Even as they got to the third floor, and entered Pente, he wasn't sure exactly what to think. (1:25:59 AM He kicked the door shut and led Heero to the bathroom, where he pushed him gently but firmly down on the closed toilet. "Did she say anything?" he asked at last, just one of the questions he had been mulling over in silence. (1:26:56 AM As he waited for Heero's answer, he began to carefully remove his clothing. His injuries were, as yet, unknown, though Quatre could tell that there wasn't anything fatal.
Heero's chest and left side were already turning beautiful colors from the hits he had taken. Nothing was broken, but the bruises were deep and painful and made breathing rather painful. There were a few lighter marks on his arms and upper back from being thrown around and slammed against the wall.
Beforfe doing anything else, Quatre knelt down to get a better look, prodding delicately at them. Black whorls that only he could see pulsed, gathering around his fingers angrily. But Heero was right; nothing broken. Quatre only allowed himself a small breath of relief, then stood up again and went into the kitchen to grab some ice. (1:34:16 AM "Stay still, ok? I'll be right back." he called over his shoulder.
Heero nodded, clutching at his head again as Quatre left, doubling over a little. Damn, she had slammed him hard. It really hurt.
Quatre returned in short order, and the first thing Heero would feel would be ice on the bump at the back of his head. The blond knelt, coming into view, and looking just as worried as before. "Try not to hunch over like that..." he said, "It'll make your breathing worse." Heero was already wheezing.
"I'll try," he replied. "Thanks."
Quatre just shook his head. "You're welcome..." A small bottle of salve was pulled from the first-aid kit on the floor beside him, and as he began to carefully apply it to the wounds, Quatre's face clouded. "What happened?" he asked quietly. "What did she say to you?" What she had done was obvious, but he was still rather surprised to find Heero alive.
Heero started to shrug, then realized that was a bad idea. "She...she's hurt. Sad. She wanted to know what happened and I told her. She threatened to kill me but she didn't. I don't really understand," he added with a sigh.
Quatre frowned at this- not that he wasn't *extremely* grateful, but it was puzzling. "What *did* happen?" he asked then, looking briefly at Heero. Wufei had told them his side of it, but Quatre still wanted to hear what the other boy had to say.
"What, out there with Harth?" He had remained silent because he wanted to protect everyone from Fray's wrath. With that subsided, it was less an issue.
Quatre nodded, then suddenly became very focused on putting salve on Heero's bruises. "Quatre and I...we...went to talk to Wufei." The admission meant that they had figured out what the Japanese pilot had been trying to hide.
Heero frowned. "Wufei has his own mission," he said stiffly. "That doesn't include being lynched or attacked by Fray. Besides, he wasn't the one who killed him. I did that."
Quatre placed a hand on his cheek. "We never blamed him, or you for what happened....but we need to know." Not for the Alliance, but to protect Heero. Though, so far, that hadn't worked out. Quatre realized this with a silent groan. What happened with Harth Fray?"
"He called me out," said Heero calmly. "He said if I didn't come he would kill Wufei. So I went and confronted him. He attacked me, and I threw him into a branch, which I guess skewered him. I didn't even see it there," he added with a shake of his head.
The blond listened to this in silence, still of the opinion that it sounded too easy... But that wasn't the point. "Did he have Wufei at this point? Or was that a bluff?"
"No, he didn't have Wufei, but he lured him out as well."
Quatre folded some ice in a towel, then gently wrapped it around Heero's ribs. They had already been slathered with a generous amount of the numbing salve, and this would help. He sighed. "Was anyone else there?"
"A few people came running when they saw his posts, I guess. But it really doesn't matter."
This was definitely troubling. "Did you see....was Miss Sylvanas there as well?" he started to apply salve to the bruises on Heero's neck, carefully running his fingers against the delicate skin. The marks were purple and angry, definitely swollen.
For some reason, this line of questioning was starting to irritate Heero. "I don't know who was there. It doesn't matter who was there. The only one with any culpability there besides Harth is me."
Quatre let his hands fall onto Heero's neck a moment, not with any pressure, but to draw his gaze. "You are not culpable." he insisted, now more sure than ever. "You acted in self-defense, against a monster who was threatening your friends."
"Then let's leave it at that," Heero replied.
The blond let out a breath through his nose. "I wish we could....." There was something hard in his voice. "...But apparently, there are enough fools in this compound to make trouble." He wiped his hands off with a frustrated snort.
Heero managed a weak smile. "It's okay. What are they going to do? Lock me in with the Joker? Send me to bed with no supper?"
Quatre pinched a throbbing nerve in his temple. "Worse than what Melaka did to you, if they catch you in a dark alley." he almost snapped the words, but reined in and sighed. "We need to protect you....better than we did this time." Definite guilt was in his voice now.
"Who threatened that?" he asked. "If they want to play law and order let them. And I don't need any protection. Not if it means putting others in danger."
"Apparently, Harth had a few 'friends' here." the blond moved so he could tend to Heero's back. "I don't care what they think they can do to me...but they're not hurting you again." His pale brows had drawn together in a sharp 'v'.
"I don't want you hurt. I don't want anyone hurt because of what I did," Heero snapped back.
Quatre winced, but then his expression changed to a mixture of pain and pride. "Oh, Heero....." Delicately, the fingers traced a bruise under the other's shoulder blade. "Heero....you're so good to... I know you're just trying to protect everyone..."
Heero flinched the slightest bit, smiling tightly. "It's selfish of me, I guess. Maybe I am just playing a martyr."
Quatre's hand went briefly to his shoulder. "Heero...why do you think we haven't tried more actively to fight you on this? Because it shows your best nature." His eyes shone with a soft light, gazing at the well-known face with more obvious pride now. "It's not selfish of you at all."
Then, frowning once more, he turned back to Heero's scarred back. "I just....I don't want you to be hurt, either."
"Of course you don't," he sighed. "And I know you'd do the same for me. I think you have, even." He blinked some, trying to remember.
Quatre just shook his head. "If I did, it was because I knew you would have done it, too." Heero's bumps had been taken care of, but he couldn't stay sitting on the toilet. "Come on....let's get you into bed." Quatre still had questions, but they could wait for a bit.
"Sure," sighed Heero, hauling himself up with a grimace of pain.
Quatre supported him from one side, and they made their way slowly to Heero's bed. As Quatre eased him onto it, he couldn't help wincing at the harsh sound of each breath. Dark tendrils lashed around the Japanese boy's middle, but even those meant that nothing was broken. Still.... "I can make breathing a bit easier, if you'd like?"
"Don't hurt yourself," was Heero's only protest to this idea, he winced though, as he laid down; it hurt his head to lay on it, he pushed himself up on his elbows a moment to consider how he could lie comfortably.
Quatre watched this in silence, determination clear enough on his features. "It doesn't hurt me." he told Heero, but had to amend, lest it become an outright lie. "Not for very long....and not nearly what it does to you. It's just to take the edge off." He hated seeing his friend in this position- yes, Heero had been through worse, but that didn't matter.
Hesitantly, Quatre placed the tips of his fingers against Heero's temple, brows raised in question. It was clear that his friend would not be able to rest otherwise. Clear to him, anyway.
Heero just watched him, his mind still a bit bleary, but didn't protest.
Closing his eyes then, Quatre's fingers pressed more firmly against the fevered skin, drawing out what he could of the ache that was buried there. He was not able to take it all away completely, at least not at this point in his own development, but he could make a dent in it.
As the black pain swirled up his hand and arm, he clenched his teeth against it. Small beads of sweat appeared along his own temples- he might have been mirroring Heero's pain exactly, to a close observer.
But it didn't hurt nearly as much as for the Japanese pilot- just a few moments' worth. It would fade after maybe twenty minutes.
"Don't," Heero murmured, catching his expression. "That's enough, Quatre. It's better."
It was enough for the headache, but Quatre shook his head again. "Heero, I'm fine. It's not like it is for you....I promise." And it wasn't. True, a price always had to be paid, but it was a minor scratch compared to a foot-long laceration. Quatre's eyes met his, burning with earnestness, not pain. "Please....it's the least I can do." After all, he had not been able to protect him, and that still gnawed at his insides.
"Forget the headache then," Heero replied. "It's just going to get worse when I lay down again. Help me breathe if you want to do something."
(1:38:55 AM "I was getting to that." Quatre gave him a wry smile. This time, he placed both hands on Heero's abdomen and focused. It was a bit different this time, as he used his own breaths as a pattern for Heero's body- in....out....in.... Slowly, he drew the pain out, communing with the organs to get them to work properly.
Heero sighed, trying to lie back again, accepting Quatre's strange ability for the moment.
It was all he could do. Quatre's breath began to come short as his own body 'copied' Heero's for the moment. The other would feel a sensation like cool water wash over the area through Quatre's splayed hands. After a little while, he let out a shaky breath, hands curling slightly against the other boy's skin. He had done what he was able, though that wouldn't stop him from wishing he was capable of more. "Is that better?" he asked huskily, opening his eyes to look at the Japanese pilot.
"Much," Heero said. It was still uncomfortable, though, and he turned this way and that on the bed to find the most comfortable position, finally settling on his right side.
Quatre watched this with obvious worry. Perhaps he should have pushed himself more? Frankly, he wasn't sure how...not at this point in his training. "I'll see if I can find some Aspirin." he suggested, settling himself on the edge of the bed. Hands that had just now been on Heero's side went to stroke his hair, wishing to comfort him more. ""I don't know what should be done now." he murmured. "There are still those who want you locked up, and I'll be hanged before I let that happen." This last had a definite edge to it.
"No asprin yet," Heero replied quietly. He first wanted to make sure there wasn't internal bleeding where he had been kicked, but he didn't say this aloud. He glanced up at Quatre with a weak smile. "We're already locked up, Quatre. What could they possibly do to me?" He repeated. He noted an fuzzy ear poking out from under the blanket. "Maybe they'll take away my bear," he suggested.
This last suggestion was so unexpected, and so out of place, that he couldn't help suddenly laughing at the idea. Heero had a dry sense of humor that never failed to amuse him, even in the worst situations.
"Seriously," Heero closed his eyes. "Now that Melaka has had her revenge, I can explain exactly what happened. They won't lock me up. And even if they did, I don't mind. Being locked up doesn't hurt."
Quatre's laughter died here, and his face became pensive again. "But....you'd be alone." he placed a hand over one of Heero's then. "I don't want you to be alone..."
"I won't be," Heero assured him. "I know I won't be."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Quatre nodded firmly.
But Heero looked so tired; they could talk later. Quatre smoothed the hair away from his face gently. "Can you sleep?"
"I think so. I don't think I have a concussion," he said thoughtfully. "I'll rest, at least. This feels okay."
The blond continued to stroke his hair, gently. "That's good.... Do you need me to leave? Or should I stay here?"
"Whatever you like. You don't bother me," sighed Heero.
Quatre paused, then went to grab a chair so he could sit by him as he slept. "I'll watch over you." he told Heero quietly, settling into a half-seated, half-leaning position. His fingers ran through the dark hair, hopefully soothing his friend.
Heero couldn't help a smile at Quatre's typical kindness. "Thanks," he sighed. "She didn't kill me," he added after a moment of silence. "That’s something, at least."
Where: The stairwell of Apartment 2 and then Om Pente
When: Backdated to right after Heero's fight with Melaka Fray.
Summary: Quatre finds Heero and he isn't looking so great.
Warning: None
Quatre had just been able to get away from Wufei's apartment. Heero was in trouble, and he knew it....but it was best kept from Wufei for now. The Chinese pilot would certainly not react well to Heero getting hurt, though who exactly had done it Quatre didn't know yet.
He was worried himself....large eyes scanned the hallway as he focused his abilities and tried to locate the other. nothing came into view, but he knew the Japanese pilot was not here. Perhaps he was still in Om? After a cursory search, Quatre made his way out of the building, and headed to his own, eyes open for his friend the whole way.
(Nothing came up, though there were a mess of footprints in the snow around the second building, so he checked the perimeter. Still nothing.
A sense of panic was starting to form in his stomach, but he didn't give into it. Hoping Heero was inside, he went in and climbed the stairs, but no trace of the other boy presented itself, until he reached the second landing. A familiar figure sat on the bottom step, hunched into himself.
"Heero..." Quatre breathed, then scrambled up the stairs to him.
Heero blinked at the sound of Quatre's voice, looking up a bit blearily. His head throbbed from the impacts it had taken and it was starting to hurt to breathe.
Quatre fell to his knees in front of Heero, taking the other boy's face gently between his hands. "What happened?" he asked quickly, but there was a note of fear in his voice. As Heero answered, he checked him over for major wounds, assessing the damage.
The first thing Quatre would notice was the bruise on his forehead from the head-butt and the marks Melaka had left on his throat. He hesitated to give a straight answer, but he wasn't thinking well enough to lie. "It wasn't...I mean...nothing..."
An irritated noise hissed from between the blond's clenched teeth. "*Heero*..." He had just pulled the collar of Heero's coat away to reveal the ugly bruising there, and wasn't going to let this go, not with *that* staring him in the face.
"Hmm?" Heero blinked at him, then winced and reached for the back of his head.
Quatre's fingers met his, and he hissed again, feeling a hot lump the size of a golfball. "Allah...Heero, let me see it!" The other's hand had to be shooed away, and Quatre crawled up next to him to get a better look. "Who did this to you?" he asked again, more firmly this time.
Heero sighed heavily. "I don't want anyone going after her," he murmured. "It has to end. She could have killed me and she didn't."
The hands stilled for a moment, then rested on his shoulder. "It was Melaka....wasn't it?" he asked Heero quietly.
He paused, then nodded. "Yeah."
Quatre chewed his lower lip. After a pause, he stood up, then bent over to help Heero stand as well. "Come on...let's get you into bed." He was worried about his friend, and this was not the place to talk, anyway.
Heero groaned as he stood, clutching his side. He had tried to dodge a kick aimed for his midsection and it had caught his side instead. It hurt. A lot worse than if he had just taken it straight on.
Quatre caught and held him for a moment, eyes going to the area with concern. "Are they broken?" he asked, testing Heero to see if he could walk. Quatre would put him on his back if he had to, but wasn't sure if he could...
"No," he winced. He could walk, he was just a little off balance.
Wrapping an arm around Heero's shoulders, Quatre supported him as they scaled the steps, but said nothing more for now. He was busy thinking about what he had just been told by Wufei, and then by Heero himself.... Even as they got to the third floor, and entered Pente, he wasn't sure exactly what to think. (1:25:59 AM He kicked the door shut and led Heero to the bathroom, where he pushed him gently but firmly down on the closed toilet. "Did she say anything?" he asked at last, just one of the questions he had been mulling over in silence. (1:26:56 AM As he waited for Heero's answer, he began to carefully remove his clothing. His injuries were, as yet, unknown, though Quatre could tell that there wasn't anything fatal.
Heero's chest and left side were already turning beautiful colors from the hits he had taken. Nothing was broken, but the bruises were deep and painful and made breathing rather painful. There were a few lighter marks on his arms and upper back from being thrown around and slammed against the wall.
Beforfe doing anything else, Quatre knelt down to get a better look, prodding delicately at them. Black whorls that only he could see pulsed, gathering around his fingers angrily. But Heero was right; nothing broken. Quatre only allowed himself a small breath of relief, then stood up again and went into the kitchen to grab some ice. (1:34:16 AM "Stay still, ok? I'll be right back." he called over his shoulder.
Heero nodded, clutching at his head again as Quatre left, doubling over a little. Damn, she had slammed him hard. It really hurt.
Quatre returned in short order, and the first thing Heero would feel would be ice on the bump at the back of his head. The blond knelt, coming into view, and looking just as worried as before. "Try not to hunch over like that..." he said, "It'll make your breathing worse." Heero was already wheezing.
"I'll try," he replied. "Thanks."
Quatre just shook his head. "You're welcome..." A small bottle of salve was pulled from the first-aid kit on the floor beside him, and as he began to carefully apply it to the wounds, Quatre's face clouded. "What happened?" he asked quietly. "What did she say to you?" What she had done was obvious, but he was still rather surprised to find Heero alive.
Heero started to shrug, then realized that was a bad idea. "She...she's hurt. Sad. She wanted to know what happened and I told her. She threatened to kill me but she didn't. I don't really understand," he added with a sigh.
Quatre frowned at this- not that he wasn't *extremely* grateful, but it was puzzling. "What *did* happen?" he asked then, looking briefly at Heero. Wufei had told them his side of it, but Quatre still wanted to hear what the other boy had to say.
"What, out there with Harth?" He had remained silent because he wanted to protect everyone from Fray's wrath. With that subsided, it was less an issue.
Quatre nodded, then suddenly became very focused on putting salve on Heero's bruises. "Quatre and I...we...went to talk to Wufei." The admission meant that they had figured out what the Japanese pilot had been trying to hide.
Heero frowned. "Wufei has his own mission," he said stiffly. "That doesn't include being lynched or attacked by Fray. Besides, he wasn't the one who killed him. I did that."
Quatre placed a hand on his cheek. "We never blamed him, or you for what happened....but we need to know." Not for the Alliance, but to protect Heero. Though, so far, that hadn't worked out. Quatre realized this with a silent groan. What happened with Harth Fray?"
"He called me out," said Heero calmly. "He said if I didn't come he would kill Wufei. So I went and confronted him. He attacked me, and I threw him into a branch, which I guess skewered him. I didn't even see it there," he added with a shake of his head.
The blond listened to this in silence, still of the opinion that it sounded too easy... But that wasn't the point. "Did he have Wufei at this point? Or was that a bluff?"
"No, he didn't have Wufei, but he lured him out as well."
Quatre folded some ice in a towel, then gently wrapped it around Heero's ribs. They had already been slathered with a generous amount of the numbing salve, and this would help. He sighed. "Was anyone else there?"
"A few people came running when they saw his posts, I guess. But it really doesn't matter."
This was definitely troubling. "Did you see....was Miss Sylvanas there as well?" he started to apply salve to the bruises on Heero's neck, carefully running his fingers against the delicate skin. The marks were purple and angry, definitely swollen.
For some reason, this line of questioning was starting to irritate Heero. "I don't know who was there. It doesn't matter who was there. The only one with any culpability there besides Harth is me."
Quatre let his hands fall onto Heero's neck a moment, not with any pressure, but to draw his gaze. "You are not culpable." he insisted, now more sure than ever. "You acted in self-defense, against a monster who was threatening your friends."
"Then let's leave it at that," Heero replied.
The blond let out a breath through his nose. "I wish we could....." There was something hard in his voice. "...But apparently, there are enough fools in this compound to make trouble." He wiped his hands off with a frustrated snort.
Heero managed a weak smile. "It's okay. What are they going to do? Lock me in with the Joker? Send me to bed with no supper?"
Quatre pinched a throbbing nerve in his temple. "Worse than what Melaka did to you, if they catch you in a dark alley." he almost snapped the words, but reined in and sighed. "We need to protect you....better than we did this time." Definite guilt was in his voice now.
"Who threatened that?" he asked. "If they want to play law and order let them. And I don't need any protection. Not if it means putting others in danger."
"Apparently, Harth had a few 'friends' here." the blond moved so he could tend to Heero's back. "I don't care what they think they can do to me...but they're not hurting you again." His pale brows had drawn together in a sharp 'v'.
"I don't want you hurt. I don't want anyone hurt because of what I did," Heero snapped back.
Quatre winced, but then his expression changed to a mixture of pain and pride. "Oh, Heero....." Delicately, the fingers traced a bruise under the other's shoulder blade. "Heero....you're so good to... I know you're just trying to protect everyone..."
Heero flinched the slightest bit, smiling tightly. "It's selfish of me, I guess. Maybe I am just playing a martyr."
Quatre's hand went briefly to his shoulder. "Heero...why do you think we haven't tried more actively to fight you on this? Because it shows your best nature." His eyes shone with a soft light, gazing at the well-known face with more obvious pride now. "It's not selfish of you at all."
Then, frowning once more, he turned back to Heero's scarred back. "I just....I don't want you to be hurt, either."
"Of course you don't," he sighed. "And I know you'd do the same for me. I think you have, even." He blinked some, trying to remember.
Quatre just shook his head. "If I did, it was because I knew you would have done it, too." Heero's bumps had been taken care of, but he couldn't stay sitting on the toilet. "Come on....let's get you into bed." Quatre still had questions, but they could wait for a bit.
"Sure," sighed Heero, hauling himself up with a grimace of pain.
Quatre supported him from one side, and they made their way slowly to Heero's bed. As Quatre eased him onto it, he couldn't help wincing at the harsh sound of each breath. Dark tendrils lashed around the Japanese boy's middle, but even those meant that nothing was broken. Still.... "I can make breathing a bit easier, if you'd like?"
"Don't hurt yourself," was Heero's only protest to this idea, he winced though, as he laid down; it hurt his head to lay on it, he pushed himself up on his elbows a moment to consider how he could lie comfortably.
Quatre watched this in silence, determination clear enough on his features. "It doesn't hurt me." he told Heero, but had to amend, lest it become an outright lie. "Not for very long....and not nearly what it does to you. It's just to take the edge off." He hated seeing his friend in this position- yes, Heero had been through worse, but that didn't matter.
Hesitantly, Quatre placed the tips of his fingers against Heero's temple, brows raised in question. It was clear that his friend would not be able to rest otherwise. Clear to him, anyway.
Heero just watched him, his mind still a bit bleary, but didn't protest.
Closing his eyes then, Quatre's fingers pressed more firmly against the fevered skin, drawing out what he could of the ache that was buried there. He was not able to take it all away completely, at least not at this point in his own development, but he could make a dent in it.
As the black pain swirled up his hand and arm, he clenched his teeth against it. Small beads of sweat appeared along his own temples- he might have been mirroring Heero's pain exactly, to a close observer.
But it didn't hurt nearly as much as for the Japanese pilot- just a few moments' worth. It would fade after maybe twenty minutes.
"Don't," Heero murmured, catching his expression. "That's enough, Quatre. It's better."
It was enough for the headache, but Quatre shook his head again. "Heero, I'm fine. It's not like it is for you....I promise." And it wasn't. True, a price always had to be paid, but it was a minor scratch compared to a foot-long laceration. Quatre's eyes met his, burning with earnestness, not pain. "Please....it's the least I can do." After all, he had not been able to protect him, and that still gnawed at his insides.
"Forget the headache then," Heero replied. "It's just going to get worse when I lay down again. Help me breathe if you want to do something."
(1:38:55 AM "I was getting to that." Quatre gave him a wry smile. This time, he placed both hands on Heero's abdomen and focused. It was a bit different this time, as he used his own breaths as a pattern for Heero's body- in....out....in.... Slowly, he drew the pain out, communing with the organs to get them to work properly.
Heero sighed, trying to lie back again, accepting Quatre's strange ability for the moment.
It was all he could do. Quatre's breath began to come short as his own body 'copied' Heero's for the moment. The other would feel a sensation like cool water wash over the area through Quatre's splayed hands. After a little while, he let out a shaky breath, hands curling slightly against the other boy's skin. He had done what he was able, though that wouldn't stop him from wishing he was capable of more. "Is that better?" he asked huskily, opening his eyes to look at the Japanese pilot.
"Much," Heero said. It was still uncomfortable, though, and he turned this way and that on the bed to find the most comfortable position, finally settling on his right side.
Quatre watched this with obvious worry. Perhaps he should have pushed himself more? Frankly, he wasn't sure how...not at this point in his training. "I'll see if I can find some Aspirin." he suggested, settling himself on the edge of the bed. Hands that had just now been on Heero's side went to stroke his hair, wishing to comfort him more. ""I don't know what should be done now." he murmured. "There are still those who want you locked up, and I'll be hanged before I let that happen." This last had a definite edge to it.
"No asprin yet," Heero replied quietly. He first wanted to make sure there wasn't internal bleeding where he had been kicked, but he didn't say this aloud. He glanced up at Quatre with a weak smile. "We're already locked up, Quatre. What could they possibly do to me?" He repeated. He noted an fuzzy ear poking out from under the blanket. "Maybe they'll take away my bear," he suggested.
This last suggestion was so unexpected, and so out of place, that he couldn't help suddenly laughing at the idea. Heero had a dry sense of humor that never failed to amuse him, even in the worst situations.
"Seriously," Heero closed his eyes. "Now that Melaka has had her revenge, I can explain exactly what happened. They won't lock me up. And even if they did, I don't mind. Being locked up doesn't hurt."
Quatre's laughter died here, and his face became pensive again. "But....you'd be alone." he placed a hand over one of Heero's then. "I don't want you to be alone..."
"I won't be," Heero assured him. "I know I won't be."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Quatre nodded firmly.
But Heero looked so tired; they could talk later. Quatre smoothed the hair away from his face gently. "Can you sleep?"
"I think so. I don't think I have a concussion," he said thoughtfully. "I'll rest, at least. This feels okay."
The blond continued to stroke his hair, gently. "That's good.... Do you need me to leave? Or should I stay here?"
"Whatever you like. You don't bother me," sighed Heero.
Quatre paused, then went to grab a chair so he could sit by him as he slept. "I'll watch over you." he told Heero quietly, settling into a half-seated, half-leaning position. His fingers ran through the dark hair, hopefully soothing his friend.
Heero couldn't help a smile at Quatre's typical kindness. "Thanks," he sighed. "She didn't kill me," he added after a moment of silence. "That’s something, at least."