Descent of an Angel

Chapter 9

In one of Quatra's many mansions, the heir was curled in bed, with his head buried under the pillow on his side of the bed, and covers drawn tight around himself. Beside him, lounging under his own, separate set of blankets was Trowa, he'd long since gotten accustom to Quatra's cover hogging nights by supplying his own under the bed.

The quiet of the morning was broken by the phone ringing loudly on the table a few feet from the bed. Trowa frowned before he turned, pushing his arm over his face, fully intent on ignoring the annoyance when he felt a small hand shoving at him.

"Answer the phone."

"You answer it." Trowa grunted as he shoved Quatra's shoving hand away.

"No. You get it."

"What's wrong with you getting it?" Trowa asked, peeking out from under his arm.

"I don't want to get up... and I say you go get it, so go get the phone."

Trowa groaned to himself, staring up at the ceiling as the phone continued to ring where it was. One last shove from the blond Winner, Trowa shoved his arm away and sat up. Swinging his long legs over the side of the bed, he grabbed his discarded pants and slipped them on. He made his way to the phone, sitting down with a almost flop in front of the cradle and picked it up.

"Barton..." He grunted sleepily into the phone.

"Ah... Mr. Barton, did I wake you? This is Dr. Walter." the voice on the other side of the line answered back at him.

"Sort of... You have any idea what time it is?"

"I do, do you?" the voice asked, a tone of humor in his voice.

"It's five in the morning." Trowa grunted, rather annoyed by the question.

"Trowa, it is actually eight in the morning. Was there a storm last night? You are three hours behind."

Trowa frowned into the phone for a few seconds before he looked down at the watch on his wrist, sighing in frustration, he rubbed the back of his neck, "Shit. Yes, there was a lightening storm over here last night. It must have tripped the power while we were asleep. Do you still have time to fit us in?"

"Yes, I do, actually. If you come in within the next two hours."

Trowa grunted before he looked at his watch, "Right. See you then."

He hung up and moved back to the bed, sitting on the edge, contemplating how to wake the smaller male without pissing him off more than he was already going to be.

"Quatra. Little one." he called, reaching out and tugging at the covers.

"Hm... Whatever it is can wait, Trowa." Quatra groaned into the pillows, pressing them against his head.

"Hm... It's eight in the morning."

There was silence for a few seconds. Trowa stood up and backed off the bed to be at a safe distance once it sank into the blond's head that they had not only slept in, but missed a therapy appointment.

"WHAT?" The small blond squawked as he sat up like a shot or a startled animal and bolted out of bed.

"That was Walter on the phone. He's giving us two hours to get there. He's made room for us."

"Dammit. You know I hate being late." Quatra said, now thoroughly panicked as he bolted for the drawers to get some clothes.

"I know... I'll go downstairs and shower; you use the one in here."

Nodding, the blond bolted past him into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. A soft sigh escaped the taller male's lips as he looked at the door, the faucet squeaking on then the shower head began to run it's spray on the other side of the door.

"Good morning to you, too, little one." he grunted rather sourly as he collected the things he would need to shower downstairs.

Half an hour later found the two men finishing getting dressed at the edge of their bed, their backs to each other as they worked. Trowa was leaning against the edge, straightening the sleeves of his long sleeve shirt before he sat down and began to put on his socks and shoes.

"Wufei's canceled all of his sessions again." Quatra muttered as he began to put his own shoes on as well.

"I know. He told me that he was going to." Trowa said softly as he tied one shoe tight, frowning a little at the uneven loops before he tucked them into his shoes and left them be, despite the nagging voice pleading with him to re-lace his shoes so that they were even.

"You think that is a good idea?"

"He's paranoid, not delusional. He's fine."

"You've seen him in the halls!"

"He's paranoid." Trowa repeated, "He had a rather hard break up with someone who became his boss' girlfriend... It's not an irrational thought process... even if she was the one that broke up with him."

"It is if he goes out of his way to make sure that he is never alone with anyone else besides us four, well, two now. That's not the point. He's getting worse with these thoughts that he is going to be either attacked or fired because he isn't dating Sally anymore."

"Everyone does it after a bad separation, little one. Even more so when the person he had a bad break up with is now dating someone that is higher up than he is. He's a grown man with a signature on his psyche evaluation. Let him be."

"Speaking of evaluations. I think that we should pull Duo from the Institute?"

"No." Trowa grunted, not even hesitating to think about it or anything.

"Why not? It's been over a year! He's not getting any better. He's getting worse, if anything."

"We've been over this, little one-"

"We're people he's comfortable with and-"

"We were people he was comfortable with, Quatra." Trowa said, standing up, putting a lot of emphasis on the 'were' and 'was', "You and Heero are dwelling too much on how Duo used to be. He's not the same anymore. We can't be sure that he will be able to trust us anymore."

"I don't believe that!" the smaller said, his tone suddenly low and dangerous.

"Quatra, don't use that tone with me. I'm telling you what I know and what the facts tell me. I know that he needs to be where he is because they are going to be the ones that help him. The facts tell me that he's getting better there an-"

"They fucking overdosed his medication! They caused him to have seizures every day because they caused brain damage that-"

"Brain damage that could have been from the /Brain Surgery/ he had less than a year ago!"

"Sally said that the surgery wouldn't do anything to his brain! They were draining fluid to relieve pressure!"

"At the top of his head and the base of his spine! The brain is something that neither of us can understand, Quatra, and it can't inter-"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a fucking idiot! I know the complexities that come with working with brains, and I also know that the expert tested him, and told us that nothing was wrong with him because of the surgery!" the small, blond heir was now screaming at the European male, his face flushing red with anger, the tugging at the back of his subconscious begging to be free.

"He's not coming back, Quatra! The Duo we knew is gone, and isn't coming back!"

"I don't believe that!"

"Start believing it, because it's the truth! Nothing we say or do is going to bring him back so you might as well fucking forget about any plans you had for him or else you're going to end up like Heero! Stuck in the fucking Psyche Ward because you can't fucking let him go!"

"Che." Quatra grunted angrily, snatching his coat from the hanger in the closet, the plastic thing snapping from its hook.

He ripped the coat from the rest of the hanger, then flung it across the room. Trowa stepped out of the way, in case it was aimed at him, but it wasn't. He watched, silently quelling the growing anger within himself as Quatra forced his arms into the sleeves of the coat and stormed out of the room, little feet thundering down the stairs and the front door banging of its hinges and the wall.

Taking a deep breath, he shakily got his own jacket and slung it over his arm, marching himself down the stairs and outside where Quatra had flung himself into the passenger seat of the silver cat in front of the mansion. Rashid must have told someone to bring the car around in the morning. Another deep breath drawn, he walked to the driver side and climbed in, draping the jacket across his lap and starting the car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I can see the news of being late did not settle well."

"That's not the topic of the day today." Trowa muttered softly, his voice emotionless as his face in these things. It always was.

"Oh, what seemed to be the problem today then?" Walter asked, shifting in his seat to sit up straighter, mostly to keep an eye on Trowa's subtle reactions, and look for any other signs of what could be the problem.

Trowa sighed before he leaned back into the uncomfortable plush chair, arms folded over his chest and legs crossed at the ankles like they always were when he was uncomfortable, or being more emotional than he normally was. Having his body closer to itself was always a comfort when he wasn't feeling like himself. Like someone was hugging him but he was able to keep his wish of not having anyone, besides Quatra, touch him.

"Quatra is under the same delusion that the others are. He believes that if we bring him home, Duo will snap back into being himself again then everything will be bright, happy, and joyful. He seems to think that if we just bring Duo home, to our place, that he will just suddenly be Duo again."

"How is that a delusion? It could be possible." Walter said, leaning back a bit, rubbing at his bare chin then jotting down notes.

"Yeah, it's a possibility that the person tortured until their mind snapped to be suddenly healed just by walking across the Winner threshold. I don't buy it."

"The human mind is a very complex machine. For all we know, they could be right. Duo could just need the presence of the people he knows and trusts around him."

"I don't think so. Not with how far gone Duo was when we found him. I don't think he trusts us anymore. I really don't. Truthfully, I wouldn't trust the others if I was in a similar situation." he murmured, his voice low.

"And this started the disagreement between you and Quatra?"

"He's stubborn."

"It could be said that you are, too, Trowa."

"I am realistic. I know what the world is capable of and what could happen to people who are not prepared for it."

"That doesn't sound too realistic to me. It could be said that, yes, the others are dwelling an awful lot on how Duo used to be before all of this happened, but it could also be said that you are dwelling on how humans used to be during the war. All the fragile people being broken, and all of the evil that was going on. It sounds more like you have given Duo up for a lost cause to me." Walter muttered as he wrote down a few more things.

"Given Duo up? What do you mean?"

"The others with their 'delusions' seem to be putting more hope into getting their friend back than you do. They are hopeful that he will be back to normal again while you are fully prepared to leave him as he is. Where he is. They are willing to try alternate routes to try and help the best that they can, while you are content with staying on the straight path and falling back on letting the people in this institute take care of your friend for you."

"No, I want him back, too… It's just… I wasn't… particularly fond… of the old Duo…"

"He made you uncomfortable in his presence?"

"He was always so happy! During the war. No matter what happened or how many people we killed, he always had the brightest smile on his face than anyone else. Sometimes he would be the only one smiling. I still don't understand how he could be like that… Being surrounded by that much death in the battlefield, and to have lived through the tragedies in his life, but still be able to smile. He was still able to laugh. To joke around with Quatra, to pull pranks on Wufei, to annoy Heero into goading a reaction out of him when the other wanted to be left alone. He was always so full of life with all the death around us."

"I see. He didn't make you uncomfortable. He made you want."

"Want? I never wanted him, though."

"No, not sexually, but you wanted to be like him. Even now, you are trying hard to hide as well as show emotions. You wanted to be able to express yourself like he was able to. You want to be able to crack that joke that brings a smile to Quatra's face. You want to be able to laugh freely when Wufei spills coffee all over himself, burning himself while sputtering all sorts of curses and threats to the liquid. You wanted to be him."

"So the uncomfortable feeling was really jealousy? I was jealous of how easy Duo could be human?"

"Could have been, could not have been. The only one that knows the answer to that would be you. Now then, back to business. How are you feeling today?"

"Confused…"

"Ah… Well, the previous conversation could be the cause of that. Anything else on your mind? Any nagging feelings, or desires that you can't seem to pin down?"

"No. I… I just want to… think a bit more. About what we just talked about."

"You want to end it here today?"

Trowa nodded as he stood up, not even waiting to be dismissed. His body realigning with soft cracks then slightly loud pops after sitting for so long and he started out of the room rather quickly. Long legs not pausing for a second as he had the door open and out of it without stopping his strides.

"Send Quatra after you!" Walter called after him.

Trowa sat down in the waiting room, watching as Quatra disappeared into the room for his own session. As soon as the blond was out of hearing range, he grabbed his phone and quick dialed a number. Pressing the phone to his ear, he listened to the rather harsh ringing of the other line.

'Was I jealous of him? Is that the reason why I couldn't stand the old Duo so much? Did I want to be him?' Trowa thought to himself as he waited, his thoughts kept together with the ringing.

"Change." Came the court response after four rings.

"Wufei, it's Trowa. I think that we should have lunch."

"What? Why? What's going on? Is-?"

"I haven't heard anything from or on Heero and Duo. No, it's for the three of us. We'll be one short, but it'll be like it used to be." Trowa said, wincing at his words.

Even when he was trying to sound sincere, or even humble, he sounded like he was insulting the longer haired male. Was that the jealousy again? Was that the reason that he did all of this? What would that mean for Duo? Was it right to send him to live in this facility in the first place? Was he letting his jealousy cloud the fact that maybe, just maybe, Duo needed all of them around him to feel like his old self again? Would he come back if he just 'went home'?

He thought he was doing what he could to help Duo. He thought he was doing what he had to so that the others wouldn't have to shoulder such a burden. Now, he didn't think he was. Now, he was wondering if he was so quick to commit Duo because he just wanted him gone. Was he so 'helpful' towards the others because they needed him to be strong, or was it because he didn't want what he thought to be his family, his brothers, to become distant and leave him. Was he being selfish and tossing Duo aside because he thought the other would cause the bond he made with the others to grow thin and break? Could he be that blind to the pain of someone he used to think was his friend, to the wanting that the people he call his family ached for just because it didn't suit the little picture he made for himself?

"What's going on, Barton?" Wufei interjected into his thoughts.

"Tell me honestly, Wufei… What's the real reason that you stopped your therapy sessions?"

"I got uncomfortable with the guy. He brought up a subject I didn't want to talk about and insisted that we talk about it. I didn't want to do it, so I quit the sessions…"

"Couldn't you have just been persistent with your request to not talk about the past?"

"I didn't want to talk about it at all, Barton. I still don't."

"I see. I'm sorry that I brought it up again, then."

"It's fine, I just don't want to talk about it. He was being very pushy about that subject. Speaking of this touchy subject, why would you ask me of such a thing? You never asked about my sessions before. What did he bring up about you?"

"I'm sorry I'm being nosy and I'll tell you at lunch what he told me. I don't want to talk about it over the phone. I want to talk to you about it, because Quatra's not too happy with me right now, and if I bring something like this up to him, it will solidify his anger towards me. I don't want that."

"I see. Things are getting bad between the two of you?"

"No! We just had an argument this morning, that is all!" Trowa heard himself growl into the phone.

"Fine, fine. Ok! I get it. Where do you want to meet?"

"The last one we attended together. When it was the four of us." he winced, there was that tone of his voice again.

"Right. One o'clock?"

"Make it one thirty. It's pushing twelve now and Quatra just went inside with Walter. I don't want him more panicked about being late for something than he was a few hours ago."

"Right. I'll see you two at lunch. Chang out."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The place for lunch was a small All You Can Eat Joint that they all went to often because it was a melting pot of different cultural food and beverages. It was a place that you could go for sushi and hamburgers all from the same place. They mostly went here because Heero had found it and fell in love with the sushi spread that they laid out in the Sushi Bar. Being raised on Ration Bars and warm water, Heero found he had a small weakness for the confections filled with multiple items. His favorites were the 'Tuna Wraps', little bits of sushi rolls that were filled with raw Tuna, strips of celery, a little wedge of creme cheese and avocado all wrapped in a black strip of seaweed, then encased in rice. They got a table in the very back of the place, a place that was quiet and alone, perfect for a couple of men that were too paranoid to eat within the rest of the public. The waitress took their drink orders before they even sat down before she went off to get. Quatra made a move as if to take his chair when Trowa touched his shoulder gently.

"Little one, why don't you go get yourself your plate first? I want to talk to Wufei alone for a few minutes."

The small blond frowned at him, looking confused as to why he would want to talk to Wufei alone before he nodded a little and returned to outside of the room like area they were seated at, taking a plate and starting down the line of food. Trowa took a seat against the wall so he could see if the small blond was coming back over Wufei's shoulder as the Chinese man took a seat across from him, tan features schooled into a confused frown.

"What's going on, Barton?" Wufei asked.

"It's nothing major, it's just that… Walter thinks that I am willing to let a professional take care of Duo because I was jealous of how he used to be. During the war, that is. He believes that I had wanted to be like Duo."

"He thinks you wanted to act like an idiot?" Wufei asked, snorting with suppressed laughter.

"No, acting happy, smiling all the time." Trowa muttered as he leaned back into his chest, arms going over his chest defensively again.

"Maxwell was never happy. He just acted like it to piss us off."

"Did he? Or was he trying to do something for us? Was he trying to give us something to live for in a time where we had nothing? Maybe he acted like he did, so that we wouldn't self-destruct and leave him alone? Maybe that was what he was afraid of most in the world. Being alone."

"I didn't not live for that idiot. Trust me, that idiot acting like nothing was going on in the world, that there was no turmoil in people's minds was the bane of my existence." Wufei grunted as he snatched up the salt shaker from the other end of the table then began to fiddle with it, using his nail to scrape crusted over salt particles from the slots.

"Don't call him an idiot, Wufei."

"It's what he was, is and forever will be. Nothing more than an idiot."

Trowa didn't say anything for a few seconds, just stared at the Chinese man before he seemed to wither under his gaze, shoulders slumping forward, head bowing as he pressed the finger tips of his free hand to his temple.

"All right, I had missed him, too. I still do miss him, but I still think he used to be an idiot the way he talked and acted."

"That's what he wanted us to think. It was a mask, like all of us had. You had your Justice, I had my silence, Quatra had his caring, and Heero had his emotionless expressions. Duo acted like he was happy all the time so we wouldn't see how upset or lonely he really was. He wanted to be sure that we never saw how truly hurt he was with everything, so we wouldn't have to burden ourselves with him."

"Why are you hiding this from Quatra?" Wufei asked him, unscrewing the salt shaker top.

"Because I'm beginning to think that he is right… Maybe we should take Duo to one of Quatra's mansions and treat him like we would any friend or family member. Just to see what happens."

"What if he gets worse?"

"He can't get any worse than he is right now. The last time I heard from Heero, he said that Duo was talking to himself more and more now. He says that Duo's 'conversations' with 'Solo' are getting more and more frequent. Duo's retreating further and further into his mind. There is nothing any form of medication or the presence of nurses and therapists can do about it."

"Maybe. Maybe not. We don't even know why Maxwell is acting like this. He knows we wouldn't let anything bad happen to him while we're around." Wufei muttered as he used his fork's tong to scrape stuck salt off the silver metal.

"But we're not around. The only one around is Heero, and Duo is so far within his own self-protection that he believes Heero isn't real. He believes Solo is real and Heero is the hallucination brought on by the fact that he was trapped in that room for so long."

"So Maxwell can't judge reality. How is taking him from a familiar setting and placing him in a completely unfamiliar one going to snap him back into reality?"

"I don't know, but it wont hurt anyone to try it out. Duo can't get any worse than he already is. Next Friday we have an appointment to see them. We can go them and sign Duo out."

"You are going to tell Quatra?" Wufei asked.

"I suppose when he gets back from getting his food, I'll tell him. He's their medical proxy so he will have to be the one who si-"

A deep ringing came from inside the pocket of his pants pocket, the ring tone two loud and rather annoying beeps. Frowning, Trowa fished it out and glanced at the caller ID. 'Institute-Heero'.

"It's Heero…" Trowa muttered, confused as to why the other would be calling right now, usually Heero didn't call until after two, that way he could see Duo as long as possible and still make his therapy appointments with Walter.

Shaking it off, he pressed the green answer key the placed the receiver to his ear, listening to the slight static sound on the other end. Wufei sat up in his chair, his arms folding across his chest as a confused scowl etched its way across his face.

"Barton."

"Get us out of here. Now!" Heero growled dangerously on the other line.

Trowa frowned, slowly getting to his feet, "Where are you?"

"Third floor... It was the soonest I stopped myself. Barton, get me and Duo, now, or I'm going to kill everyone in the fucking place. I mean it."

"What's going on?" Wufei asked, frowning as he noted Trowa's now slightly alarmed expression. He shot up from his char, the legs scraping across the wood and moved forward, as if he could hear the phone.

Trowa shook his head at him, as if telling him to stay where he was as he pulled the phone away from his ear and flipped the receiver to reveal a keypad under it, thus putting the phone onto speakerphone and held it out so that Wufei could listen to what Heero was saying.

"What's going on, Heero?" Trowa asked, he had to get as much information out of his brother as he could, but the other wasn't cooperating with his questions.

"Get us out of here, Barton. You have a half an hour or else I'm blowing this place sky high. This is your only warning." Heero growled before the line clicked dead.

"What the hell?" Wufei asked, stunned at the sudden anger and malice in Heero's voice. A tone that he hasn't heard from the other since the end of the first Eve War.

"Get the car, I'll find Quatra." Trowa ordered, snatching up his coat and tucking away his phone.

Wufei nodded before he bolted from the spot where he had been standing. Trowa watched him and left a twenty on the table for the place before he walked out to find Quatra. He found the smaller male standing in one of the lines, searching the displays of food for something that he would want to eat, his plate already half full of different items.

"Quatra." Trowa said softly so he wouldn't startle him or any of the other patrons in the restraunt.

"What?" Quatra asked, looking up at him, noticing the look on his lover's face, he frowned, "What's the matter?"

"Heero just called me from the Institute. Something's wrong. He says that we have to get him and Duo out of there or else he's going to start killing people."

"He's on his medications! He can't-"

"I don't think it's his disorders. I think something's happened to either himself or Duo. He doesn't feel safe there, and the Soldier is trying to take control."

Paling a little, Quatra turned with him, walking briskly along side the taller male out of the place to the front where Wufei pulled the car up in front of them. Keeping the engine going as he watched the two climb into the passenger and rear passenger seats.

"Did you get anything out of him?" Quatra asked as he slid his belt across his chest.

"No. Just that we had to pick him up now. Go!" Trowa said as he slid into the back, the car squealing out of the place before he even had the door closed.

The drive was long and tense. It only lasted twenty five minutes, but it was long enough to rack everyone's nerves. All three of them were hoping that Heero would keep his word of the half an hour and the place would still be in one place once they got there. They kept an eye on the horizon, half expecting to see a mushroom cloud of smoke and debris flying into the air at any moment.

Pulling up into the front, they all leaped out, not even bothering to lock the car or park. A few people yelled at them to move their car but they ignored them in favor of getting into the building. Inside there were people everywhere, it was more packed on this day than they had ever seen the place, and this was the day that it looked like Heero was going to blow the place sky high. Most of them were people visiting loved ones and relatives. Trowa made for the stairs, not even bothering to try with the elevator since it would be too slow for where he needed to go, not to mention there was a line waiting for them.

Bolting the stairs two at a time, this legs burning and aching. The demand for oxygen in his muscles was almost over powering, he almost debating slowing down and taking a break, but Heero's threat still rung true in his ears, forcing him to move even faster, the adrenaline making him forget all about the aching, burning pain in his legs. An Orderly was coming out of the third floor access door, completely unaware of anything until Trowa shoved past him.

"Hey! You can't go in there!" the guy called after Trowa as he disappeared down the halls as if he was never even there.

"This is an emergency. Move." Wufei growled, flashing his badge as he shoved past him, tearing after the taller, faster European male.

Quatra did the same with his badge, following after them the best his shorter legs could take him. He felt like he was close to catching up when he suddenly felt the stabbing pain in his Space Heart, the blinding rage and the pure terror that was coming in the same direction the others had ran to, the force of the emotion making him stumble, clutching the area over his heart. Heero was pissed, that was obvious, and he was going to kill someone if he hadn't done it already. The second emotions, he could barely tell, were Duo's emotions. He was hurting and terrified to the point of it being almost crippling.

When Quatra finally caught up with the others; Trowa was bent before Heero, shaking him and calling for him. The other was staring off at nothing, seeming to stare past Trowa to a door behind him, his eyes distant and blank. Quatra recognized the expression, Heero, strong, never startled Heero, was experiencing shock. Trowa continued to shake and call for the other, his voice and shaking becoming desperate when the other still wouldn't respond. After what felt like an eternity, Heero finally responded and it was extremely violent towards the European male. He made a lunge for Trowa, a roar coming out of him that would scared a bear away. Trowa flung himself backwards and out of the way as Wufei swooped in behind the violent Japanese male, snatched Heero under the arm, pulling him back to him, holding him as Trowa panted in shock, heart racing.

"Heero! What the hell?" Trowa demanded as he sat back up and faced the panting, furious Ex-Wing Pilot, noting how wild and unseeing the cobalt blue eyes were.

"Get him out of here. Get him out now!" he growled, thrashing around, trying to break Wufei's iron grip on his chest.

"What happened? Heero, tell us what the hell happened!" Wufei demanded loudly, holding Heero close to him, almost able to rest his chin on his shoulder.

Heero made a snarling noise that would impress even a tiger, his gaze on the door behind Trowa. The tallest of the four looked over his shoulder. The door looked like any of the other doors down this hallway, painted white with a silver door knob, until he noticed that the knob was replaced with another knob that had locks on them, and was turned so that the locks were on the outside rather than inside. There was a couple gray thing lodged in the lock that looked like a thick wire, something Heero had found in order to pick the locks.

"We took him here for them to help him…" Heero growled, his voice teetering between wanting to lash out again, and wanting to scream in agonizing pain.

Trowa frowned as he reached forward and turned the door knob. He could hear the tumblers clicking before he pushed the door open, not moving to enter yet as he let light pour into the pitch black room. The room was completely bare of everything. It had no bed, no sink, no toilet, no light fixtures and no windows. It was completely closed off and seemed to have never have been used before as it still smelled like it had just been painted.

Huddled in the corner, shaking like a leaf in the fall, was Duo. His hands gripping his short hair in a death grip, as if he was going to pull them out by the roots. His knuckles were white with the pressure of holding onto the strands, his shoulders tense and drawn up to his ears. His knees drawn up, his forehead pressed to his white knees

"Duo." Trowa muttered as he strode into the room to the huddled mass.

He made it two steps from Duo when the ex-Deathscythe pilot lifted his head quickly, like a startled animal would lift their head catching a whiff of some sort of predator. There was no fake joy, no confusion, only pure fear then the instinct to lash out and protect himself.

"Duo, don't." Trowa prompted, holding up his hands in surrender as he saw the slight movement in Duo's body as he tensed his muscles to attack.

Duo looked at him, blinking in surprise before he narrowed his eyes, distrust filling the violet depths before he retreated back into his corner again, curling in on himself like before, hands moving up over his head, protecting it but not taking his eyes off of Trowa.

"Heero.. What happened?" Wufei asked, looking at the still seething Japanese male.

"They told me that he was sick. That he was too sick to see anyone. They lied to me. They wouldn't let me see him. I saw that... that... he was walking up here, I followed him. He went into that room for a while then came out. I didn't think anything of it." Heero rambled, his head lowering as if he was going to cry or break down.

Trowa frowned in worry as he knelt down, studying Duo as he stared at back at the taller male, curling tighter into himself when the other moved. He didn't trust him near him at all, and he wasn't going to relax.

"They kept him here… for two days, in the pitch black… They sent him back into that room… Made him relive it again until his mind snapped again… I followed him again. While I was waiting, he went into the room, then there was this horrible screaming. It sounded like he was being stabbed, or tortured all over again. The new guy ran out of the room, slamming the door and locking it behind him! He locked him back in. The Orderlies and that new therapist were leaving here... I waited until they were gone and picked the lock. I had to see what was in here. I found him, sobbing in the corner, mumbling to himself. When I touched him, he started screaming. It was the exact same scream I heard before. He was screaming. It was so loud. I couldn't take it."

"Electro-Convulsive Therapy." Trowa muttered softly, watching the shaking young man as he began to make small whimpering noises as his fear grew.

"What's that?" Wufei asked.

"It's like Sensory deprivation, but instead of it being used as a punishment, it's used to shock someone back to reality... They used to use it before Colony times, even before modern medicine, to try and force people who have gone insane to return to the real world. Duo.." Trowa called, swallowing thickly when Duo responded to his name.

Quatra moved a little into view of the room, looking in at the huddled mass in the corner that was now eyeing him fearfully and distrusting, any form of relaxing he was thinking of doing was replaced with the sudden urge to curl tighter into himself. More people. More people to hurt him. To betray him.

"Quatra, sign them out of here. We're taking them home." Trowa said, watching Duo as he swallowed thickly again then slowly lowering himself to one knee, holding his hands palm out to the scare male to show that he was not only unarmed but wasn't going to hurt him, it didn't seem to work as Duo flinched away from his hands, "Duo, do you remember me?"

Duo swallowed hard, his eyes narrowing into slits as he glared at the hands trying to seem innocent, "Yes... "

"We're... we're going to take you home now. Where you will be safe." He said, holding his hand out for the smaller male to take, wincing himself when Duo flinched away from them.

"Nowhere is safe... It's all... corrupted..." Duo muttered softly, his voice almost devoid of any emotion besides fear and distrust.

"Duo, do you remember all of us? Remember that we were friends? We were family?" Trowa asked.

Duo looked at him, eyebrows raising a little in confusion.

"Remember... We celebrated Christmas together? Had lunch? We were together, we were family. We were friends." Trowa muttered softly, looking at them before he swallowed a little as Duo's eyes welled with tears brought on by memories of a happier time.

"Yes.. I remember that." he murmured before he buried his face in his hands, shaking in them again.

"We can take you out of here. A place where the walls are free... Where they aren't closing in on you... Duo. Would you like to do that?"

Duo nodded, wrapping his arms over his chest, his small hands and thin fingers wrapping their opposite brethren arm as he looked up at him, "Don't... send me back... into the dark... Don't send me back. No more, please."

"We can manage that… No more, Duo. I promise. We wont send you back to the dark, you can count on that."

Duo nodded, laying his head on his knees again before he forced his fingers further back into his head a small hiccup and sniffle coming from him, "My hair... it's gone..." he whimpered, his voice thick as if he was going to start to cry.

"We found you like that. They had to remove some more for the surgeries, but... it will grow back, Duo." Trowa muttered softly.

"My hair... All I had of Solo... of Father Maxwell... Of Sister Helen. I don't have them anymore." he sniffled, fat tears rolling down the sides of his face.

"No, Duo. You still have them. They're still with you. We can grow your hair back. We'll grow it longer now. You can grow it to the length you had it for your loved ones, then further for the good times we will have together again." Trowa explained, scooting a little closer to him.

"Why did you guys take so long? Why didn't you find me sooner?" Duo sobbed as more tears fell from the sides of his face, "Why did you leave me with them? Why did you let them keep me for so long? Why didn't you find me?"

"We didn't know that you were kidnapped, Duo. I swear, we didn't."

"Didn't know..." Duo repeated with a dry chuckle and wet sniffle, "Didn't know... They didn't know..."

Trowa swallowed thickly again before he looked over at the other two in the hallway, watching as Heero shook his head in disbelief. He seemed more down to Earth now, and Wufei was slowly relaxing his grip on his brother.

"He brought him back but at what consequence?" Heero asked, frowning deeply before he swallowed softly, looking at Duo, who was still sobbing in the corner, his heart aching for him, "What's going to happen now?"

Trowa glanced at Duo before he looked back at Heero, panicking building up inside of him as the question rolled in his head. What /were/ they going to do now? What could they do now? Duo was a wreck, Heero was just waiting for a chance to kill someone for this. They couldn't leave the two of them here, and it looked like Trowa's biggest fears had come true. Duo didn't trust any of them at all. He didn't want them getting close to him because he was afraid they would hurt him or worse, kill him. What were they going to do to be able to take care of, not only themselves, but a distraught, angry Heero, and a emotionally wrecked, untrusting Duo.

"Trowa?" Wufei asked, looking at his friend and brother as the Latin teen turned his single eye gaze to the Chinese male, "What are we going to do now?"

Swallowing thickly, Trowa lowered his gaze, trying to think fast but nothing would stick in his head. He didn't know what to do.

"We'll take them to Quatra's house. We are living there right now. We'll take them there and from there... we'll have to wait and see." he muttered softly, slowly turning back to Duo as scared violet eyes looked at him, unsure of the prospect of leaving with them.

They had lost Duo's trust somewhere in the five years that he was with those bastards. A trust that Duo freely gave to them before. Now, they would have to earn that trust back while helping Duo cope with the harsh reality of what had happened, and what will happen to him. It was going to be an emotional roller coaster for all of them, but for Duo, it was a roller coaster that the four of them would happily ride out. The way might be highs, lows, twists and turns, but the hope to see that smiling face once again would power them through it, and hopefully be able to see that smile once again.

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Ardra: What'cha think?