It was definitely unnerving when their two new arrivals had not yet woken up by the time the sun was going down. She had brought meals for her and Trunks into this room twice, and even gone to her room for her handkerchief after discovering a cut on the hand of the one with shorter hair--Heero, she corrected herself--and tying it around to it.
For now, that was the closest to bandages that they had. Well, there were still her old clothes, her school uniform, but somehow she got the feeling that they were saving that for if they needed them for something serious. Against the Thunder Emperor or the Carrions or even the Reapers, maybe, but not for small scrapes like this.
She couldn't really help it; she yawned big, completely unable to hide it, much less hold it back.
"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" Trunks-kun asked softly next to her. She nodded, not trusting her voice too much at the moment. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep an eye on them."
"Are you sure? I can take part of the night," she objected, but it was half-hearted at best. She was too tired for a serious argument right now.
But Trunks-kun shook his head. "I'll be good. Get some rest."
It was just as well that it was all right by Trunks-kun. She was out in a matter of moments, her head resting on Trunks-kun's shoulder after he slid his sword off, setting it just beside him, still in range for a quick reach if it became necessary. This can't be too comfortable for him was her last thought before she was out.
She had weird dreams. There were these huge metal monsters, both of them several stories tall. One was mostly white, while the other was predominantly black, but both of them had huge wing-like appendages sticking out of their backs. People kept calling them some weird word, something like "Gundam", maybe.
She kept seeing those two machines, one after the other then back to the first, over and over in her dreams. She didn't know how, but she kept feeling like these two things related back to their guests.
The dreams themselves weren't what was so weird, though she had to say that she had no idea where she could come up with those metal monsters; she had never exactly been a fan of giant mecha anime, since that was more her brother Shingo's realm of interest. No, what really struck her as odd was that, even in the dream and even while knowing that these Gundams related to Duo and Heero, she wasn't afraid.
She didn't quite that same sense of immediate trust with the two of them that she had with Trunks-kun. It wasn't the same thing. It was a very close cousin to it, though. She did trust them, at least the dream versions of them, but it was more tempered, less immediate.
But if they had to do with those metal monsters, then what could it have been that they had lost by being brought here? She got the distinct impression that they weren't exactly summoning the mecha; if anything, it was more like they were inside them, directing them. Piloting them, her mind supplied, and she agreed.
If Trunks-kun had lost his ability to draw out his own ki and she had lost the ability to transform, what had Duo and Heero lost?
The question echoed throughout her dreams. There was no answer given to it throughout any of them, and that bothered it more than it should. Because if they hadn't had some ability for the Reapers to steal, then why were they here? There had to be a reason, and the possibilities leaned toward terrifying.
Two things yanked her abruptly from her sleep. One was the body she was leaning against quickly moving; Trunks-kun was shooting to his feet, even as he took a split second to steady her before she fell over. The other was someone swearing, saying something along the lines of "What the hell is going on here?!"
She quickly opened her eyes and noted a few things in rapid succession. From the hole in the far wall, it was obviously still the middle of the night. The crank lantern on the floor cast wild shadows around the room, but at least it was enough to see by, if only barely. Trunks-kun was standing just in front of her, placing himself between her at the pair in front of her, sword drawn and at ready. Duo and Heero were both on their feet, and if she wasn't mistaken, that was a gun in Heero's hand. How had she missed that when she was patting them down or even when Trunks-kun was moving them?
From the looks of things, it had been Duo who had spoken. Heero... didn't seem like the talkative type.
She pushed herself slowly to her feet. There was no point in exacerbating the situation at this point. A tiny absurd part of her actually wanted to hold her hands up in the classic position of surrender. For now, though, she was resisting it. "It's all right," she commented softly. "We're friends. This is Trunks. I'm Usagi."
All her words seemed to have accomplished was shifting Heero's attention to her. The gun hesitated briefly slightly between Trunks-kun and her before setting more on her. Trunks-kun, in turn, responded by shifting the corresponding inch or so to the side. Looks like Heero doesn't believe me, she thought inanely. The last time I had a gun aimed at me, there was a pink-haired six-year-old aiming it at me. I think Heero's gun is a lot more real than ChibiUsa's was.
It was Duo that seemed to be evaluating what she was saying and giving it the appropriate level of consideration. "I think she's telling the truth, Heero." When Heero's attention didn't waver in the slightest, the taller man rolled his eyes. "Holster it, Yuy. Let's not wear out our welcome before we get here."
She didn't have to see Trunks-kun's face to know he was smirking in amusement right now, even as he was lowering his sword and putting it back into its scabbard. Over his shoulder, she could see that Heero was indeed lowering the handgun, tucking it away behind his back. Well, that might have explained why she hadn't found it while she was looking for their IDs but not why she had not seen them when Trunks-kun was bringing them up here.
Duo stepped forward, holding a friendly hand out. "I'm Duo Maxwell. This pain in my ass is Heero Yuy."
She weighed the pros and cons quickly in her mind, finally stepping out from Trunks-kun. "Pleased to meet you." She shook his hand briefly before stepping back towards her... partner. "I hope you don't mind, but we checked your IDs earlier." She nodded to where they had left on the ID wallets on the floor. "You were unconscious when you arrived." They all had been, but she wasn't getting into that just yet.
"Where are we exactly?" Duo glanced around as he asked, as if he would be able to tell from the almost four walls that surrounded them.
"It's kind of a long story," she hedged. A long story and the middle of the night, but again, she wasn't mentioning that.
"I think we've got time," Duo commented, "and it'd be nice to have something to say besides 'we're not in Kansas anymore'."
19 September 2012
And here's your Wednesday special.
I wish I got a nickel for every hit to this story you guys give me. Seriously. You guys have given this little story just under 900 hits in the short amount of time it's been up. (If I got a nickel for every hit, that would be about $44.50... and a chance to take my to my beta reader to a nice meal in recompense for her hard work.)
And I guess I should mention that if you are interested in my original work, the physical copies of both my books are on sale right now on lulu com/ spotlight / apollymi. Just use the code PIRATA (because apparently it's Talk Like a Pirate Day) to get 15 per cent off. The sale goes through 11:59pm on Friday, 21 September. (Electronic copies, which are much less but aren't on sale, can be gotten through my website: katherinebell net.)
And that's the spiel. Thank you for pardoning a bit of self-promotion and rambling.
See you Friday for the next chapter!
Apollymi