Merrillian Part 5
Heero was awoken rather forcefully as he was thrown out of his bed and his head hit the bedside table. After landing on the floor with a loud thump, he just lay there, watching his vision spin around him. His head hurt, like he'd been hit with a ton of bricks, and for a moment he couldn't move. Not a single limb would respond to his mind's commands - he couldn't even speak - so he was just forced to lay there until it wore off.
It took a long time, and after what he guessed was about ten minutes, the room stopped spinning around him and his arm responded enough for him to hold his throbbing head. He blinked a few more times, letting the shock wear off, then he left his eyes open and just stared at the ceiling.
In his mind, he could perfectly see the look on Duo's face as he was thrown out of the dream. He could still feel traces of the hot red light and the incredible force that had shoved him backward. Letting out a long breath, he tried to calm his racing heart.
Frowning to himself, he tried to sit up in order to move back up to his bed, but at the slightest of movements dizziness swirled around him and his stomach lurched. Heero quickly dropped back to the cold floor and stopped moving, realizing that in his current condition, even making it to the bed might make him sick. So instead, he opted to spend the rest of the night on the floor.
Which was exactly where he drifted back off into a fitful and stiff sleep.
~*~
The next morning found him on the bus heading back for the richer part of town. Despite the fact of finals and the last week of classes he wasn't heading in for school. Instead, he'd sent an e-mail to his professor and begged off going to class in return for writing a small essay and taking the final on a later date that week. He would have preferred to go without the paper, but it wasn't worth complaining about because it was better than an incomplete.
Riding the bus to Quatre's house, he tapped his index finger impatiently against the window as he watched the houses fly by. The dream would not leave him alone and the image that Duo had sent to his mind was as clear as ever. The boy from the image was younger, but there was no mistaking those eyes or that smile. It was definitely Quatre. And Duo's reaction when Heero had said the boy's name only confirmed it.
So, if he understood Duo right, that meant that somehow Quatre would be able to help with this entire situation. Had he been in a straighter sense of mind with more sleep on his side, he might have realized that dreams always incorporate the day's events within their puzzles, albeit though in a strange form. But he wasn't willing to think about that right now. Instead, all his mind cared about was talking to Quatre about this and seeing if Duo was right. It was the first real concrete clue he'd gotten from the dream since he'd started having it, and he wasn't about to let it go any longer.
Less sleep makes one impatient.
This time, the bus took him directly to Quatre's block and he jumped off, surprised to find Quatre out on the lawn talking to an older man with a tennis racket in hand, resting on his shoulder. Heero noticed a small resemblance between the two, despite the older man's brown hair and mustache, and guessed that he was Quatre's father. Both stopped talking and Quatre's eyes lit up as he spotted Heero.
"I didn't expect you to come back so soon."
Heero nodded a greeting, only belatedly realizing that he must look like a mess due to his lack of sleep lately. At least he'd taken a shower and changed clothes before he'd rushed over. He may have been impatient, but he wasn't stupid.
"Heero, this is my father, father, this is one of Trowa's friends." Quatre said, quickly introducing the two. The older man nodded a greeting to Heero, flashing him a guarded smile, then he turned back to his son.
"I suppose I'll let you two speak then. Don't stay out here too long though, Quatre. You're always welcome to invite him in."
"Of course."
The man turned and entered the house, the door staying open just long enough for Heero to see him hand the tennis racket to a servant. Heero relaxed just slightly as he disappeared from sight; meanwhile Quatre's face turned to one of concern.
"Are you all right? You... seem really stressed about something."
Heero frowned and for a long time didn't say anything. No, check that, he was stupid. Because any sane person would have figured out on the way over here how to explain something like this without seeming like a raving lunatic. He had no idea how to explain any of this to Quatre, no idea whatsoever. He sighed lightly and took a step back. Well, there wasn't anything he could do about that now.
"I need to talk to you about something."
Quatre nodded. "Do you want to go inside? Maybe somewhere where we can sit down?"
Heero shook his head. "No, I just..." He frowned again and met Quatre's eyes. "Do you know anything about a boy named Duo?"
The reaction was almost instantaneous as Quatre's eyes widened and he stumbled back a few feet. A look of disbelief covered his face and he just stared at Heero, looking like he'd been stabbed in the back. Then his eyes slid into a glare and his entire expression changed to one of anger.
"Get out," he spat out angrily, his voice hoarse. "Leave."
Heero blinked in surprise. "But I-"
"Leave now. You aren't welcome here anymore." With those sharp words, the blond turned on his heel and headed for the house in a brisk walk. Heero watched in shock as the boy nearly slammed the front door behind him, leaving Heero out on the lawn.
What in the world was that?
~*~
Catherine pushed open the door slowly, wincing as the latch squeaked. She hated how Heero's door always squeaked like that, and she swore he never fixed it just because he had never liked people sneaking up on him. She stepped timidly into the room and found it completely dark with all the lights turned out and the shades drawn. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light, but when they finally did, she found Heero was lying curled up with his back to her on the bed. Biting her bottom lip, she stepped into the room the rest of the way and made her way toward the bed.
"Heero?"
He didn't respond, didn't even move as she shut the door behind her and turned on the lamp on his bedside table. With the small amount of light, she could now see that Heero's eyes were open and he was just staring into nothing. The lack of emotion on his face sent a shiver down her spine as she sat down slowly on the bed.
Reaching forward, she placed a hand on his forehead, feeling to see if it was warm. As an afterthought, she brushed his bangs out of his eyes, waiting for him to say something.
"I'm losing it Catherine," he murmured softly.
Concern flashed across her face and she turned to completely face him. "Please tell me."
Heero's eyes blinked once and slid shut as he drew in a shuddering breath. Pulling the blankets closer to his body, he shook his head.
"Please Heero. I swear you're acting like this thing is killing you." She frowned deeply. "Is it because... Trowa...?"
Heero shook his head, slower this time. "No, this has nothing to do with Trowa. Least I don't think it does."
"Please tell me. You never know," she said with an attempted and failed smile. "Maybe it'll help."
She watched silently as he took a deep breath and sat up, clutching the blankets tightly in his fists. One hand drifted up to hold his head and he still didn't open his eyes. "I'm seeing things," he said softly.
She blinked. "Like what?"
"I... I don't know. It started as a dream, a boy hanging in a web of chains. I've been having them for a couple weeks now, every night. Every night, the same thing, and he's always trying to talk to me, but can't. He can't speak, like he lost his voice. And just recently, I've been seeing him in other places. Mirrors, my reflections, and I can't seem to get him out of my head."
His voice dropped off as he covered his face with his hands, breathing deeply. After a moment, he brought up his knees and hugged them, hiding his face.
"At first I thought it was just a dream... but I can't anymore. It's not a dream anymore, it's real. I want to find him; I want to help him... I can't concentrate on anything any more, just the dreams. I want... no, need, to help him. But I can't figure out how."
Slowly, she reached a hand over and lightly rested it on his shoulder. "Heero..."
A hard chuckle drifted past his lips and he shook his head. "You probably think I'm nuts. Heck, I think I'm nuts. But I don't know how to stop it."
"I don't think you're crazy, Heero," she said softly. "What I do think is that you're under a lot of stress right now."
Heero looked up and opened his mouth, but she shook her head, not letting him speak.
"A lot of things are going on. Finals week, Trowa's anniversary, whatever else may be going on here at home... and I'm sure my telling you about why it happened didn't help much either. I'm betting your mind took the dream and made it more detailed to give you something else to concentrate on. It's very normal, my mom used to write stories like crazy with characters leading very horrible lives, just to make her feel better about her rotten life. I should lend some of them to you some time. You should see the shit she put them through."
Catherine flashed him a smile which brightened as he flashed a small one of his own.
"You're probably right," he conceded, though he didn't sound very convinced.
"How much sleep have you been getting lately?"
"Very little."
"Ok, then here's what you're going to do." She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, assuming a mother hen position. He couldn't help but crack a very small smile at that. "You're going to go down stairs and eat a healthy dinner, and that doesn't mean cold pizza and leftovers. Then you're going to take a shower and come back up here and get some sleep. Do your best to forget about the dreams and if they happen to come up again then just flow with them. You need sleep Heero, and it'll probably help. Whoever that boy is, and whether or not he needs help, I'm sure he'll understand if you ignore him for one night in interest of your own well being. After all, what good is a helper if they are near walking dead themselves."
Heero nodded.
"Do I need to make you dinner?" She asked in a slightly more mocking tone.
Heero chuckled softly in spite of himself. "No, I should be fine. I'm conscious enough that I can microwave something, though I wouldn't trust myself with the stove at the moment."
"Good." Her expression softened and she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him in a loose embrace. "This is probably nothing to really worry about. But I'm sure that from your vantage of the problem, it looks a lot bigger. Just don't tackle it all at once, ok? Take it a step at a time and I'm sure the solution will present itself... eventually."
Heero nodded and flashed her a small smile. Standing up and crawling out of the bed, he walked with her down to the door and said good bye after assuring her a few more times that he would follow her instructions as best he could.
Turning away from the closed door, he addressed the empty kitchen. Once again, his father was at work and probably wouldn't be home until later that night. In fact, the post-it note taped to the small stove ventilation hood confirmed that thought. Frowning to himself, he opened the fridge to see what he could possibly scrounge up with as little thought or work as possible.
Surprisingly, after Catherine's little mother hen act, he actually felt much better. She had brought up the point that he was probably going about this all the wrong way. He admitted that it probably was mostly due to stress, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that wasn't the complete truth. In either case, he was going to take her advice and not worry about it at the moment. One thing she was right about, he did need sleep. And he planned to get some after a small amount of food and a warm shower.
Beyond him, the doorbell rang and Heero glanced up in surprise. Almost as if on cue, Mimir seemed to materialize near the door, watching him closely for any possibility of making it outside. He shook his head at the cat and picked her up, then pulled the door open.
To his surprise, he found Quatre standing in the doorway, waiting with a carefully guarded expression. Heero blinked and stepped back, allowing him enough room to enter. Quatre took the chance and stepped in, letting the door close behind him.
Heero swallowed, not sure what to say to the blond. Luckily, Quatre saved him the trouble.
The blond exhaled and frowned at him. "I know you're one of Trowa's friends and I really would like to get to know you better. And I can completely understand if you blame me for what Trowa did, but... but you had no right to bring Duo into this."
Heero's hold on Mimir slackened and the cat jumped to the ground easily, moving to rub up against Quatre's legs. She was disappointed though, because both boys completely ignored her. Seemingly ticked off at being ignored, the tabby cat sauntered off into the other room, intent on ignoring them right back.
"You do know Duo then?" Heero asked softly after a moment.
Quatre snorted. "Of course I do! The question is why you would bring such a thing up. He has nothing to do with any of this, and if you planned to use him to make me feel guilty for what happened with Trowa-"
Heero quickly shook his head. "No, I never meant that!" He frowned and took a step back. "I'm not even sure we're talking about the same person anymore."
Quatre blinked at that one and the anger seemed to drain out of his face. Instead, he tilted his head just slightly to the side and regarded Heero with a look of confusion. "You brought up his name, you had to know that Duo was my cousin."
"Cousin?" Heero stared in surprise at that. "You mean he's real!?"
For a long moment, both boys just stood there staring at each other in shock. Neither knew how to respond to the other's last words. Heero was certainly very confused with what was going on. But if he'd understood Quatre right, that meant that the boy from his dreams was actually a real person, a living and breathing person. For the first time in weeks, he felt he was actually close to figuring this out, or at least to helping Duo. Yet he still didn't dare to hope that he might actually be so close.
"You... really didn't know?" Quatre whispered softly.
Heero shook his head.
"Then how did you know his name?"
Heero grimaced. He didn't want to explain the dreams again, he didn't want any one else to think he was going crazy. But if there was even the slightest chance that Quatre could help him figure all this out...
"I keep seeing him in my dreams," he said very softly.
"Dreams?" Quatre's expression seemed to brighten slightly at this. "What kind of dreams? What does he look like in them?"
"It's hard to explain..." Heero paused and his eyes widened in realization. "It's hard to explain, but I can show you."
With those words, he led Quatre up to his room.
~*~
Quatre took a seat on Heero's bed as the boy moved to his closet. While Heero went searching for the way he was going to 'show' the dream to Quatre, Quatre's eyes roamed around the room.
Despite his initial worry about going over to Heero's house, he actually didn't feel nearly as tense as he thought he would. It had been over a year since he'd locked himself in his parents' huge mansion, vowing never to leave the yard again. But the mention of his cousin's name was too intriguing a mystery to pass up. How many years had it been since he'd seen Duo last? Far too many, that was for sure. And still, after all these years and after everything everyone else had said, Quatre still believed he was alive. He refused to let himself think otherwise.
Standing up off the bed, he made his way across the room to a piece of canvas mounted on the wall with a thin piece of fabric draped across. Frowning lightly, he reached for the sheet to pull it away. His curiosity always got the better of him and he knew that proper etiquette said he should ask Heero for permission first, but he didn't. No, he just wanted a small peek.
The thin sheet of fabric slid away to reveal the beautiful painting beneath. The young blond boy stood with his mouth open in awe as he took it all in. Before him, in the painting, sat Trowa in a simple wooded chair. His olive green eyes gazed out of the painting, sparkling with happiness as he held the painted image of Heero's tabby cat in his lap, halfway through the gesture of stroking her soft fur. He was exactly the way that Quatre remembered him in every detail.
Standing behind Trowa in the painting was a slightly older woman of Japanese descent. Her make-up was thin and very carefully done, only enough to accent her beautiful chocolate colored eyes. Her black hair was cut short, fitted to outline her face, framing her smooth white skin perfectly. She stood not a step behind Trowa, one hand clasped on his shoulder protectively, almost in a motherly fashion, and a radiant smile crossed her lips.
Quatre smiled. "It's beautiful."
Behind him the movement in the closet stopped and Heero stepped out, bringing another piece of canvas with him. He set it gently against the wall and walked over to stand beside Quatre.
"Who is she?" Quatre asked quietly.
"My mother." A faint smile lit up Heero's face. "She died just after we moved here and I met Trowa and Catherine. I painted this after he died... it was my way of helping myself remember that she would take care of my friend for me. I don't remember much about her, but I do remember that she loved Trowa and Catherine. She acted like we were all siblings."
Quatre smiled and nodded. "I'm sure she's with him now and that they are taking care of each other."
Heero nodded, the smile disappearing from his face. Turning, he led Quatre back over to the closet. "I did one of the dream after the first time I had it. Usually if I paint my dreams they go away, but this one didn't. Still... it will probably give a better description then I ever could."
Quatre swallowed and nodded. He waited silently as Heero reached forward and turned the painting around. What he saw made his legs tremble and he had to stumble backward to catch the bed to keep his balance. Numbly, he dropped onto the bed, his hand coming up to clutch over his heart as he shook his head.
In the air around him, he felt a cold and icy chill.
"Duo..." he choked out softly. Shaking his head in disbelief, he addressed Heero without tearing his eyes from the painting. "This is what you see? Every night?"
"Every night."
Quatre hugged himself quietly, his body trembling just a bit more. There was absolutely no mistaking it. That was his cousin. The cousin he'd lost nearly five years ago.
If nothing else, this painting confirmed his suspicions that Duo was still alive. But this had to be the worst possible way to find out the truth. And Quatre couldn't take it.
Uttering a soft gasp his eyes slipped shut and darkness engulfed him. Quatre tumbled to the floor, unconscious.
TBC...
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