Just cause it's slow doesn't mean it's sad
Just cause it's wrong doesn't mean it isn't right
Just cause it hurts don't mean it's bad, no...
I hope you know that I'm not letting go
I will leave the light on
-Lyrics to the 'Doesn't Mean Goodbye' performed by Jon McLaughlin
Crimson Bonds Part 87
[Flashback]
It was over.
Three years... three whole years of endless running, hiding and bringing as many as they could was finally behind the Barton-Yuy Clan. What was sure to go down in the history books as one of the worst times in mankind's history had ended at last with the liberation of the last labor camp.
Now, the five Vampires that had embarked on the incredibly dangerous undertaking to save whomever they could stood in a ring at the center of the Swedish home's living room.
The long-standing neglect of their house had left thick dust and spider webs to cover the surfaces around, but not even Midi paid that any mind. There were cracks in the brick walls from natural shifting that Heero would have seen to if they had been living at the estate all along, but he could not have been less concerned about that now.
Haunted by the things that they had witnessed and done for pure survival not only for themselves but for those charges that they had rescued, the lot simply stared at the floor at their feet in a profound silence that was only filled by the ticking of the grandfather clock.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
All that the Infected had known was their mission. Now... they struggled with what to do without it.
It was Anna who had spoken up first when she finally looked down at herself to note her soiled, bloodied, torn clothes. Sniffing, she winced at the stale smell she was emanating. "I'm goin' te git a shower," she mumbled in a thick turn of her accent. That said, she turned for the doorway and disappeared when she walked around the corner.
Her movement broke through the stillness for the rest of her family, causing them to blink and lift their heads as though waking from a terrible nightmare.
Midi gasped as she took in the room. "Goodness!" she exclaimed. "I have got to clean up and get to straightening up this place!" She darted from the room in a blur of herself.
Shrugging, Trowa mumbled, "Washing up's as good a place as any to start." With a shallow nod, Wufei stepped out behind him so that they could catch up with their wives.
For Heero, pulling himself from his dark thoughts was not as easy a process. Showering and changing into fresh clothes was performed more on instinct than a necessity to take some time and relax. His hand that he ran through his damp hair was trembling with the tension that had been building up inside.
The house was too quiet when the Japanese Vampire emerged from his private bathroom. Frowning deeply, his stomach churned at how silent it was. Too many nights in the forests that were still... and stillness meant potential danger was lurking around in the shadows that kept him and his family on edge at all times.
But he had no one to talk to... no one for Yuy to hold onto... to make love to. just to feel compassion and security again.
He was the loner of the Clan... and he never felt that more than in that moment.
Giving the couples their privacy to bond, Heero stepped out onto the roof of their home. Even at that late hour that summer evening, there were the sounds of the occasional car rolling by to fill the silence. Anything was better than silence. So that was where he decided to stay for the evening.
He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting on the shingles that made up steeple at the peak of the estate with his memories as his only company... but he was aware that his resolve was beginning to crack at the seams. It had been easy to not allow what he was witnessing in over the last few years when he was engaged in his mission. With nothing to keep him focused and driven, grim reality set in.
So many brutally killed... and for what? Because of their beliefs. Because they were different and had to suffer for that. Senseless. Horrific.
A stray tear captured the full moon's light as it ran down Yuy's face. Biting his lip, he drew in a deep and shaky breath. There was no one he could turn to just then to help him get his turbulent emotions out. He had no one to talk to, to try and reason out everything that he had been through...
"Heero?" a familiar voice called quietly from the opened attic window. Gasping in surprise, the former merchant found his sister making her way onto the roof with a deep frown. Her red spirals of hair were still wet as they fell loose and drifted on the breeze as she neared him. And without another word, she straddled his waist, locking them together behind him. Lacing her arms around his neck in a firm hug, she rested her chin on his shoulder.
The sweet gesture and contact demolished the walls that Yuy had put up. Clinging to her, he sobbed into her shoulder as she held him all the tighter when his tremors grew.
A long time passed before Heero felt steady enough to pull back enough that Anna was able to gently wipe his tears away from his face. Smiling sadly, the redhead reached for the back of his head to massage it soothingly as she asked, "Better?"
With a soft huff of a laugh, the Original nodded and replied sincerely, "Yea. Much. Thank you, sister." His grin slipping away, he shook his head, "But you should be with Wufei."
"I'm right where I need to be," the Irish Infected replied. "Wufei and I have taken what time we could to cope through this together and we have all the time in the world to keep doing so. He understands that looking out for you is my priority right now. You're the one who's been holding all of this in over the years. I wasn't about to have you wait another night to get it out without me."
Of course Anna would have noticed. And of course she wouldn't have left him behind, Heero realized. She was the only creature in the world who really knew him.
Leaning back enough that her arms propped her up off his bent legs as she stared up at the clear, star-filled night. "Hell of a thing, huh?" she sighed, her head shaking sluggishly in wonder.
"Hell of a thing," Yuy nodded. "I didn't want to believe the rumors were true... that people could be that cruel and heartless."
The redheaded immortal whispered, "Me too." She rubbed the back of her neck and met her brother's gaze. "Well, the way I see it, we can go on with our existences only thinking the worst of all of this... or we can find comfort in knowing that we saved as many as we could and something like this will never happen again. That's how I choose to look back on it."
It was a simple, logical concept. And Heero couldn't help but smile. She was right. And he was going to take on her perspective to bear their last hellish three years.
Once again the Japanese Vampire found himself in humble gratitude for having the light in his existence that he had in his sister. She was his best friend and a soul mate of sorts to him, just as she had said time and time again, always there when he needed her the most with the right thing to say to make everything right.
Swallowing roughly, Yuy hooked his arms around her lithe waist and told her softly, "Thank you, Anna. I needed that."
Her face brightening with a wide grin, the Irish Infected rested their foreheads together as she draped her own arms back around his neck. "What are sisters for?" she giggled. "It's you and me against the world, remember?"
Cobalt-and-gold eyes blinking widely, Heero remembered well that very promise he had made to her in the midst of her turning. His smile returning, he leaned in and held their lips together for a chaste kiss that renewed their pact. "Love you," he smirked.
"Love you, too," Anna replied, winking. Untangling herself from him, she took one of his hands in a tight squeeze and pulled him to his feet. "Come on," she urged, "Let's have some tea and catch up on a few card games with the others."
Gladly following along, the grin on the Original's face remained. Existence was they knew it had been forever changed... but it as already getting back to good.
[End Flashback]
* * * * * *
Walking the halls of Sally's clinic, Heero wiped at his wet eyes and sniffled. The pain over the loss of his beloved sister had consumed every shred of his being, so much so that he had shut down all of his feelings just to be able to function in finding the room that he had been directed to.
In reaching his destination, the Infected stared at the closed doors for a long pause to prepare himself for whatever was about to transpire when he walked inside. Pushing his way into the room, all of his guards crumbled instantly at the sight of his lover sitting on the edge of the patient table while one of Po's nurses bandaged his bleeding left shoulder.
As soon as their eyes fixated on each other, Duo gasped sharply as his wide eyes filled with tears. "Heero," was all he could manage. The companion working on him smiled and stepped aside so that the braided Hybrid could climb to his feet and took her leave. He no sooner righted himself before his Vampire closed in on him to hold him fiercely.
That moment in time... that contact that both creatures had longed for over better than half a year was more overwhelming than anything they had ever experienced. Crying into each other's shoulders, they gripped onto one another with every ounce of their strength.
"Oh thank God you're alright," Yuy finally muttered when he leaned back enough to cup the sides of his lover's face. Bending in, he claimed Maxwell's lips in the deep kiss that they both needed right then. Pouring everything into their exchange, nothing was left unsaid between them.
When they finally broke away, the Original pressed their foreheads together as he whispered, "I love you... so damned much."
Biting his swollen lip, Duo replied in kind, "I love you, too, 'Ro." Straightening himself, he beamed at his lover, "We have three babies, Heero. They're beautiful. Dorothy and Gloria are examining them now, but they're safe and were doing fine the last time I saw them."
Swallowing roughly, the Original's chest swelled at the thought of laying eyes on his children at last... but there was still a big missing piece to his soul and his family that made it all bittersweet. His smile wooden, he lightly traced a finger over his Other's exposed neck which Catherine had freed of the collar that left a slight indentation in his skin from months of wear.
Maxwell unconsciously leaned into his touch, his grin spreading as he asked urgently, "Where's Anna? I have to see her... to thank her for looking out for them the way she did-" He stopped himself in mid-sentence at the flash of pain that took away his partner's forced smile. "Heero?" he frowned deeply. "Where's Anna?" he asked, his tone reflecting his growing panic.
Yuy's cobalt-and-gold eyes flooded over with fresh tears. Beginning to shake his head, the Hybrid groaned, "Oh, God, no. Don't tell me.. she can't be..."
Voice thick with emotion, Heero shook his head and breathed, "She didn't make it." Though he knew the truth of his words, he still had a hard time processing them as they were spoken. It only brought on the anguish that he tried to cover up as fresh tears for his sister rolled down his face.
A sob breaking from him, Duo's arms wrapped around his own abdomen as he fell back a few paces. His breath accelerating in desperate pulls and releases meant to keep him from collapsing all together, he turned and picked up the black T-shirt that had been brought in for him. Throwing it on, he insisted, "You have to take me to her. I have to see her for myself."
Gulping down a whimper, his Vampire nodded and took hold of one of his hands as he led the way out of the room then through the halls.
Just beyond the operating room were their friends and family that Heero had left behind. Huddled together with their significant others, there was Trowa and Midi, Solo and Celeste, Treize and Lady Une, Zechs and Noin, Relena and Quatre, Charles and Hilary, John and Angela, Carol and Kristy. And not a one had a dry eye or wasn't leaning against their soul mate for support through their grief when they raised their heads to notice the Hybrid joining them.
It was that heartbreaking scene that made the terrible news all too real for Duo. With a sharp cry, he lost all sensation in his legs and began to fall when Heero caught him before he could hit the floor. By the time he was lifted back up, he was surrounded by embraces an kisses from his loved ones.
At the back of the pack, Isabel and Broderick returned from checking in on their younger siblings. Distraught and weary from their upsetting news, the pair held hands with no notion of letting go any time soon. Roughly wiping the back of his hand against his damp eyes with a sniffle, the Hunter announced to the other younglings, "Rosshe is keeping an eye on the kids until we can tell them..." he couldn't go on with the rest of it. Clearing his throat, he inquired instead, "Has anyone seen Dad?"
"Not since he walked out," John answered in a monotone as he continued to stare ahead at nothing. "There's no way he's going to survive this." Angela bit her lip and wrapped her arms around her Vampire's neck to cry against his shoulder again.
Lucrezia batted away another tear from her cheek as she gritted through her teeth, "It's so... fucking unfair. Red was one of the good ones. She never should have suffered like that in the end." Unable to find his voice, Zechs could only nod automatically.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Inside the operating room, Catherine made the last couple turns of her tiny screwdriver as she muttered to herself, "There. Last one of the set."
Carefully, she removed the collar from the fallen Infected's neck and glared at it as she put it aside. "Nasty contraption, that." Her reddened eyes falling back on her friend's body, she ran a hand over the top of her head with a kind, "There you go, Anna. No way was I going to have the rest of the family see you with that thing on."
Her husband looped his arms around her waist. "That was a very thoughtful gesture that I am sure they'll be most grateful for that, love," Zayeed reassured. Melting against, him, the weapons expert nodded shallowly.
In the far corner, Po stood with a heavy lean against the wall behind her. Continuing to cry silently, she closed her eyes and banged the back of her head a few times out of sheer frustration. Covering her mouth, she stifled a series of sobs and stared up at the ceiling.
"You did everything you could, Sally," Vladimir told her quietly as he neared. "Anna was beyond help when she arrived, but that's no one's fault beside Septum's." The name came out in a low, dangerous growl. "And he'll pay for what he's done." Pulling her close, the tall Infected requested, "In the mean time, please don't blame yourself for her passing."
The braided Companion burrowed her side against him as she sighed brokenly, "I know I did all I could, it just... it just..."
Catherine finished for her, "Sucks royally that this happened at all." Snorting, Po gave her a small, grateful smile for expressing her sentiment perfectly.
Reluctant for what needed to be done next, Sally dried her face and forced down the lump in her throat. "I suppose we should get ready to officially notify the family, even though I'm sure they already know what I have to tell them." Summoning up her courage, she reached the side of the operating table and began to drape a clean, white sheet over the Siren's body.
Her hands shaking when she was about to cover Anna's head, the doctor stopped. Recalling a particularly dark night when the pair had stood in a morgue by Carl Darlain's corpse, she was compelled to make the same, last gesture of respect that Chang had shown him by bending down and kissing her forehead with a whispered, "Good night, dear friend."
At that, Po concealed the Vampire's pale, peaceful face. Slowly heading for the closed double door when she suddenly froze in her steps as her eyes grew wide. Back rigid, she rested her fingers against her lips. "She's warm," she murmured. But that wasn't at all the case for Carl...
'Still cold,' Anna mused quietly at the memory of that evening. 'Even in death, our skin doesn't get to know warmth.'
Gasping, Sally breathed, "Oh my God." She spun on her heels and threw the sheet off of Anna to the wide-eyed shock of her company. Pressing her hands on either side of the Siren's face, a sharp puff of air burst from her. "She's warm," she repeated, the wheels in her head turning rapidly to a theory.
Her eyes narrowing, she ran for the counter and removed four new thermometers. Frantically ripping their wrappers off, she ran to the doors and threw them open to the tearful lot standing by. Only briefly taking in the startled faces watching her, she picked out her nurses and handed over the sticks as she instructed, "I want each of you to take a Vampire's temperature and give me the readings that come up."
Taken aback, her staffers eyed each other in surprise and confusion as one of the older Companions shook her head, "I'm sorry... you want us to do what?"
"I don't have a lot of time to explain!" Sally yelled as she hurried back for the operating room. "Just take those temperatures!" Lady Une, Relena, Noin and Isabel assisted the stunned nurses by stepping up and taking a thermometer from them and placing them in their own mouths.
The doors swung closed behind her only for a second's pause before Heero, Duo and Trowa rushed in behind her. Gasping sharply, Maxwell's enlarged eyes locked onto his sister's body while Po went through her drawers and cabinets. "Catherine, please go relieve Rosshe in looking after the kids. I'm going to need every able, strong hand here in a few minutes," the doctor informed in the midst of her search.
Immediately,, the redheaded Companion unhooked from her husband and rushed out of the space.
All the more uncertain to what had his friend so excited, Barton was the first to speak on his cousins' behalves with a concerned, "What's going on, Sally?"
Continuing her hunt, she answered, "We have a phrase in the medical world- 'Warm and dead.' It's for victims of hypothermia. I'm sure that you've heard of how some livings who have been in icy water for an extended time may be clinically dead, but their body actually goes into an incubated state until they warm up and their organs start working again. They have to be at close to body temperature before we can determine them as dead if they remain unresponsive. Hence the 'term warm and dead.'"
Heero tensed every nerve in his neck so that he didn't look at Anna and focused on his friend instead as he commented, "I've heard of cases like that. But what does that have to do with Anna?"
Sally located her external thermometer with a quiet sound of elation. Returning to the Siren's head, she ran the device over her forehead until it beeped with a reading. Eyes growing at the monitor that flashed before her eyes, she read aloud in little more than a whisper, "Ninety-seven degrees even."
Laughing, her eyes shimmered over as she focused on the stricken family. "Anna's a Vampire!" she exclaimed. "And she's warm, but her body should be cold! So there's a chance her body is in an incubated state, just like a mortal in a hypothermic state-"
"Only it's the exact opposite situation," Trowa muttered, his emerald-and-gold eyes widening. "If her temperature is brought down, she might heal the way she would normally."
The doors to the room flew open to one of the nurses along with Treize, Zechs, Solo, Charles, John and Rosshe. Her skin pale with surprise, she held up the thermometers, announcing, "Sally..." The braided young woman descended upon her to take the sticks and scanned over the measurements.
Po raised the sticks, cheering, "They're all thirty-two degrees. That's the base temperature that I want to being her down to."
Raising a hand, her assistant winced and asked, "But what happens if after all of this she's cold and unresponsive?"
To everyone's surprise, Wufei pushed his way into the room as he stated, "Then at least we've tried." Completely ignoring everyone around him, he purposely made his way to his wife's side and reverently cradled her in his arms. Meeting Sally's gaze with bloodshot eyes, he told her, "Just tell us what we have to do."
Spurred on by the scaly Infected's dedication, his family and friends around found their own nerve and turned to their attention to Sally for instructions.
"John and Charles, I want you to get as many people as you can and empty out every vending machine of ice," the doctor ordered. Tossing a ring of keys from her pocket to the elder brother, she continued, "There are plastic garbage bags in the supply closet next to the cafeteria and waiting room. We'll be moving Anna to the walk-in freezer past the maternity ward."
With a firm nod, the redheaded youngling replied, "Got it!" Patting his brother on the back, he broke John's stricken expression from their mother as he pressed, "Come on." His raven-haired brother was on his heels when they ran from the room in blurs of themselves.
To the rest of the group, Po said, "From the first delivery room at the end of the hall, I want the bathing tub ripped out and taken into that freezer before Wufei and I get there with Anna. I don't care what you have to take out to get it there. Anything damaged can be replaced another time but Anna can't." Vladimir smirked in pride of his wife and led the charge. In the blink of an eye, only Chang and the physician remained.
Draping the sheet that she had ripped off back around Anna's abdomen to bind it, the tall woman advised, "You'll need to take it easy when handling her. The last thing her poor body needs is any more damage done to it." She drew a deep breath and swallowed hard before adding, "I'll have to hold her closed as we walk her."
The dark images of what had happened to his wife flooding him, Chang pushed them back at bay and nodded, "Okay." Using his training to complete his new mission, he focused on carrying her safely and nothing else. Their steps rising and falling in perfect sync, the Vampire and Companion set their course.
In the first delivery room, Duo held out his wrist to his lover as the rest of their team waited . "Here," he urged. Smiling, the Original's fangs grew in and he bit into the offered flesh for a drink that coursed so powerfully through him it nearly knocked him off his feet in the euphoric rush.
After a couple of gulps restored his enhanced strength he stepped up to the deep, long tub that they had been sent to collect. Gripping the edge of the porcelain bath's edge that was not fixed to the wall, he gave one good tug and the entire bath came free from its foundation to the loud protest of the pipes, cement and and tiles that it was ripped from in the process.
Duo, Trowa Solo, Treize and Zechs moved to the edges of the tub. Once they were all in place, Merquise directed, "On three. One... two... three." Together, they easily lifted the bath straight up in the air and rested it on their shoulders.
Keeping just ahead of them, Rosshe, Vladimir and Zayeed removed any obstacle in their path using whatever means necessary until they lowered the bath in the opened center of the supply freezer. Only a few paces behind them, Sally released her hold around Anna's stomach so that Wufei could lower her into the tub when his eldest four appeared with filled bags of ice in both of their hands.
"Start pouring those cubes on her. I want that tub filled to the brim," Po advised. Propping his Chosen's head back against the edge of the tub, Chang nodded encouragingly when his younglings frowned at him. They opened their bags in the next blink and emptied all of the ice that they managed to carry.
Not far behind them Relena, Noin and Lady Une materialized to follow suit and pile the cubes to the top of the bath so that only Anna's head remained in view.
Unaffected by the cold, the Vampires and Companions alike stood around the tub for some time until Sally sighed, "All we can do not is wait."
* * * * * *
Two hours later, there had been no change.
Rosshe and Dorothy kept vigil over the newborns as the rest of their Clan had returned to their desert estate with the Chang children for the evening rather than cause the youngest of the lot any upset until the condition of their mother was certain while Wufei refused to leave her side... not that anyone would have even thought to suggest that he do so.
Perched atop boxes of medical supplies that needed to keep chilled, the founding members of the Barton-Yuy Clan patiently remained in the freezer for any sign of existence in Anna. Solo and Celeste insisted that they were to remain behind as well, staying in the company of their family. And out in the waiting rooms, the Khushrenadas waited close by for word on their dear friend.
Sitting beside his wife's head, Chang lovingly ran the back of his scaly hand over her peaceful face and through her hair with a tired expression on his face. "I just ran..." he heard himself share quietly.
His loved ones blinking and turning to watch him, he kept his own gaze on Anna as shook his head, "I couldn't even tell you how far I got or where I was. I just... couldn't stop and accept that she was gone. But then I realized I couldn't accept it because she wouldn't leave me.. she would never leave all of us... the kids... Not when she's fought to hold onto her existence all this time."
Pulling Duo deeper into his lap, Heero swallowed down the sob that threatened its way past his throat and rested his head on his husband's shoulder. Maxwell bit his lip and rubbed the back of the Original's back while struggling with his own reaction.
The door to the freezer opened to Sally, Treize and Zechs. External thermometer in hand, she bent down at the tub and ran it over her patient's forehead. At the sound of the beep, she turned the monitor towards her eyes. "Thirty-two degrees. We have to pull her," she announced.
All but jumping to their feet, Heero and his family joined the Councilmen at the tub to lift it enough that they could carry it out into the next room safely. Once it was lowered, Po was pushing aside the ice cubes over her friend's abdomen. "Please tell me this worked," she announced.
Reaching the bottom of the pile, she lifted the hem of the medical gown the Siren was wearing and breathed, "Oh my God."
Quickly leaning over the edge, the immortals around her took in a perfectly flat and sealed abdomen. When the remaining ice crunched at the unexpected shift from the redheaded Infected's body and the air was filled with a sharp gasp from her, everyone leapt out of their skin.
Her face twisting in a wince of pain, Anna whimpered with a meek, "O-oow." It was the last sound that had been cut off from her when she was in the midst of being operated on. With a sigh, she relaxed and fell into a much calmer sleep, her chest rising and falling from her instinctual breathing.
A sharp cry breaking from him, Wufei laughed and pulled her towards him in a tight but careful embrace as everyone standing around them cried out of joy and relief as they clung to one another.
The nightmare was over... only now with a much happier ending.
TBC...
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