Jul 3, 2000
Revised: March 31, 2001
"Quatre," Josephine said, her expression suddenly stern. "Are you seriously considering publicly defending that boy?"
"Of course!" Quatre answered, shocked. "Trowa didn't do anything wrong!"
"But think what it will mean to the rest of us," Josephine said, "to have the Winner family name dragged through the mud! This is unnatural and a disgrace, and as your elder sister I must insist that you return to L4 with me."
"Unnatural?" Quatre gasped, his face flushing briefly before the blush faded.
"You are the only living Winner male," Josephine said sternly, clutching at his free hand as if to communicate the urgency of her feelings. "What you do and say has a huge, far-reaching effect! I came here to beg you to return home with me, but now that I've seen how irresponsible you are I have to insist! You owe it to your family, to the memory of your mother and father, to uphold the family honor!"
"I don't have a mother," Quatre protested weakly, his head spinning from the sudden verbal attack.
"You were led to believe that you had been created in a test tube, but the truth is that no Winner male was ever born that way. You and I had the same mother, Quaterine Winner. She... she died shortly after giving birth to you, and we thought it would be kinder not to let you know... We didn't want you to feel responsible. But you have to feel responsible now! You have to abandon this unnatural thing with that boy, and sire an heir for the Winner clan!"
"I..." Quatre gasped, his ears ringing in an odd tintinnabulation as his vision darkened. "Trowa..."
"You're never to see that boy again," Josephine said sternly, her tone of voice a perfect imitation of their father's. With a barely whispered moan of protest, Quatre fainted.
When he awoke, Heero and Duo were waiting for him. The hospital was shrouded in the darkness of deep night, and even Josephine had gone to a nearby hotel to rest. A faint hint of a smile curved Quatre's lips as he recognized the dim shapes of his friends - naturally visiting hours didn't apply to Duo or Heero.
"Trowa?" he asked, and the way Duo turned to Heero for guidance answered his question.
"He's, uh, out of jail," Duo whispered uneasily.
"But he's not coming here?"
"No," Heero said, his gruff tone of voice hiding the way Quatre's wounded eyes made his heart ache.
"Ah," Quatre said numbly.
"Maybe he'll come visit you later on..." Duo offered hesitantly.
"Maybe," Quatre said, and sighed deeply. Trowa wasn't coming to see him. Trowa probably never wanted to see him again... he had ruined everything!
"You should be feeling better soon," Heero said, clearly uncomfortable in the face of Quatre's misery.
"Yup," Duo added with a fair imitation of his usual cheerful tone, patting Heero's shoulder. "You've got some prime blood stock now."
"I have Heero's blood?" Quatre asked. Duo nodded. "Funny," the little blond sighed with a ghostly smile playing across his lips. "It doesn't feel cold." Heero snorted, and Duo laughed outright.
"I think... I think I should rest now," Quatre said gently, stifling a yawn. Heero nodded and left, and Duo paused to awkwardly pat Quatre's shoulder on his way out. "If you see Trowa... tell him... sorry," Quatre whispered, and closed his eyes, slipping back into the light sleep of the invalid as his friends made their silent way out of the building.
He awoke in the morning to the intimidating sight of ten blond Winner women staring down at him, and he stifled a groan. Josephine had brought reinforcements.
"Good morning, Quatre dear," Josephine said, brushing his hair back from his forehead with a smirk. "You might not remember everyone here, but here are your sisters Yvette, Quatrina, Adrienne, Therese, Carine, Diane, Antoinette and Angelique. And of course you remember that Caroline is the oldest surviving member of the family."
"Good morning, everyone," Quatre said quietly, hiding his irritation at the intrusion. Couldn't they even let a fellow get to the bathroom before they held a convention around his bed? He had to admit to himself, in the privacy of his own thoughts, that he was more than a little irritable today. Between his unmet physical needs, his sisters gathering around to take turns hounding him, and his worry over Trowa, the morning was off to a horrible start. And if one more person offered to stick their rubber-gloved fingers up inside him, he was certain he'd scream!
"Good to see all of you," he said, stifling the urge to grimace as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
"Quatre-chan, we're so relieved you're all right," Angelique said, her tourmaline eyes brimming with unshed tears.
"We had hoped you'd never get hurt," Elaine added with a heavy sigh.
"You mean you knew?"
"Everyone knows, Quatre dear," Angelique said. "It's the main reason father tried so hard to keep you from fighting. We were so worried that you'd get hurt and bleed to death..."
"Yes, well, he's all right now," Antoinette said, patting Angelique's shoulder in an awkward attempt to comfort her.
"It's lucky we were able to keep the story out of the news," Josephine said, her eyes narrowed. "And lucky that your... ill-advised fraternizing with that boy didn't kill you. I still don't see why you didn't want to press charges. At the very least, he caused the entire family a great deal of embarrassment, and caused you a lot of pain."
"But I'm fine now," Quatre said quietly.
"But the point is, you might NOT have been," Caroline said, and everyone turned to give the oldest living Winner their undivided attention. Quatre might be the family heir due to his gender, but Caroline held the true power in the family as long as he was underage, and they all knew it. "As the eldest, and current head of the family, I find it necessary to do something Father could never bring himself to do, for your own protection and the family's well-being. Quatre, you are hereby grounded. You will return with us to L-4, and you are not to be permitted to leave the grounds of the Winner estate until such time as you provide a male heir for the Winner clan."
"You can't..." Quatre gasped, a deep flush darkening his cheeks. He couldn't help but gape at her. Under other circumstances, he'd find this whole thing laughable. Grounded? Like a naughty school child? But it wasn't funny - as long as he was underage, Caroline was absolutely within her rights as the eldest and legal guardian of the Winner estate.
"I can and I have," Caroline said. "Josephine may be overbearing and wrong in much of her thinking, but she correctly pointed out to me that without a male heir the Winner clan will die out. Until such time as you provide a new male heir, you are forbidden from fighting or in any way risking your life. You may return to your friends and your warring after the heir has been sired, but not a moment before."
"But..."
"My decision is final. You're to be released this morning. We'll depart immediately after."
"What about Trowa?" Quatre asked bitterly, well aware that with the Winner family wealth backing her up, Caroline was certainly capable of doing exactly as she threatened - she could even have him locked away, and there would be nobody to argue with her.
"Your friend is no longer under arrest. You are not to see him again, but you can take comfort from knowing that he is free. If you fail to cooperate, however, I'll see to it that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We'll leave within the hour - I suggest that you prepare yourself for the trip home."
"You can't DO this!" Quatre cried, his face burning with humiliation, his fists clenched around wadded-up blankets in impotent fury.
"As I said, I already have. Come along, sisters. We'll leave you a short while to regain your composure, Quatre. I'm sure you're aware that such an emotional reaction only confirms my belief that this will be for your own good. I trust that you'll refrain from such outbursts in the future." The troop of women left the room, some of them looking pleased - though Quatre was gratified to note that Angelique and Antoinette seemed distressed on his behalf.
Quatre slowly released the death-grip he had on the balled-up blankets, then scrambled from the bed. He could ignore the sorrow and roiling frustration long enough to use the bathroom.
A bare hour later, the Winners made their way to the spaceport. Pale and weary and miserable, Quatre numbly followed where he was led. Rashid arrived about twenty minutes before the scheduled takeoff, worried and flustered that Quatre had been so difficult to find.
"Quatre-sama, what's going on?" the Maguanac asked, ignoring the disapproving stares of most of the Winner sisters.
"Let me walk with him, please," Quatre said, bowing his fair head humbly. "We'll stay in sight."
"Very well," Caroline said. Quatre and Rashid walked away before Josephine could voice her disapproval.
"Quatre-sama, what's going on?" Rashid repeated, as soon as they were out of earshot. Quatre explained briefly, struggling to hide the depth of bitterness he felt.
"We can hide you from your family-"
"No," Quatre said. "They're right. I should provide the family with an heir before I risk my life. It's not my own life, but the continued life of the family that they're trying to preserve."
"Are you going to-?"
"I'll stay on the colony until I'm sure there's a male heir," Quatre said, thin-lipped. "Then I'll return."
"Oh..." Rashid said, all the wisdom of his lifetime failing him in the face of his young friend's despair. He clapped a friendly arm on Quatre's shoulder, expressing sympathy, fondness and respect in one simple gesture.
"Please..." Quatre said hesitantly. "I hope you'll watch out for Trowa. And that those of you that believe in the cause, in the Colonies, will continue to fight. I'll return as soon as I can..."
"We will fight in your place until you return, Quatre-sama," Rashid answered.
"Quatre!" Josephine called, and Rashid gave him one last pat on the shoulder.
"Tell Trowa..." Quatre whispered to him urgently. "Tell him I'm sorry, and that I'll be back!" Rashid stepped away just as Josephine caught up to them. Quatre's older sister frowned at Rashid, then grabbed Quatre's hand and led him back to the group like a recalcitrant child.
"You shouldn't wander off with men like that," Josephine scolded quietly after they had rejoined the group. "An unsavory-looking character, if I ever saw one. It doesn't look right!"
Quatre seated himself with the group, sagging into the chair with a troubled sigh. The remaining time until boarding passed all too quickly, and Quatre couldn't seem to stop scanning the crowd, craning his neck in the hopes that he'd see Trowa one last time and trying to ignore Josephine's disparaging remarks. Trowa never showed, though, and Quatre followed unprotesting as his sisters bustled him aboard the private shuttle headed for L-4. The rear compartment of the shuttle was small but luxuriously appointed for travel, and it was in this area that Quatre would spend the trip. To get out of the shuttle, he'd have to pass through the main compartment where his sisters were gathered.
"Why can't I just donate some genetic material-" Quatre began, his voice trailing off meekly as his sisters gasped in horror.
"The heir to the Winner clan must be born naturally in wedlock," Caroline said flatly, and Quatre nodded his acquiescence. She was right. Defeated, he made his way to his compartment and strapped himself in just as the shuttle began its liftoff. The familiar sinking-stomach feeling as they escaped Earth's atmosphere was echoed by a horrible, empty lurch in his ucchu no kokoro. He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye to Trowa...
Trowa watched from a distance as the Winners' shuttle lifted off, carrying Quatre far away from him. Emerald eyes welled with unshed tears which he blinked away hastily before turning and walking back to his motorbike with unhurried steps. Josephine must have been right; her last words to him echoed in the back of his mind, stirring up a horrible aching sense of loss.
"Quatre never wants to see you again," Josephine had said, her voice dripping with righteous anger. "You brutalized and shamed him. He'll be returning to L-4 to be with his family, and you are NOT welcome there. If you so much as set foot within 100 meters of Quatre, he'll report this incident officially and we'll press charges. If you value your freedom, if you care for Quatre as much as you claim to, you'll leave him alone. Let him heal and regain what measure of peace he can after what you did to him. Please... he sent me to ask you to leave him alone!"
Trowa shuddered with the memory, each word stabbing through his guilty conscience even as it had then, the pain still fresh and sharp. Duo had tried to convince him that Josephine wasn't voicing Quatre's wishes... but her words had ripped through him, wounding him in a way he had never thought possible. He believed them, because they were what he had thought himself. He had wounded Quatre. He had shamed him. He had ruined everything... and Quatre asked to be left alone.
"Then I'll leave him alone," Trowa whispered to himself. "It's all I can do... oh, Quatre." The tears came anyway, and Trowa hurriedly mounted his motorbike, hoping to get away before anyone saw him...
"Mister Barton?" a deep voice asked behind him. Trowa hastily scrubbed his eyes with one long sleeve before turning to face the speaker. He recognized the man as one of Quatre's Maguanacs.
"Quatre-sama has asked that we fight by your side, if you'll have us," the man stated bluntly.
"Why?" Trowa was capable of being blunt, too.
"He still believes in what you're fighting for," Rashid answered. "Will you allow us to join you?"
Trowa nodded - it would be stupid to refuse such powerful assistance.
"He also wanted me to tell you that he's sorry-" Rashid began.
"No," Trowa said. "Don't say it. If you want to fight, you're welcome to fight... but don't mention his name to me, ever. I don't want to know what he said."
"But I have to tell you-"
"I don't want to hear it." Rashid gazed into the boy's wounded green eyes, and nodded silently. Perhaps later, he'd be able to deliver his message, but now was not the time.
"Very well, Mister Barton," the man said, and held out a small slip of paper. "We can be contacted here. We will wait to hear from you."
"Thank you," Trowa said simply, and Rashid bowed to him before walking away. Trowa memorized the address on the slip of paper, then stuffed it into his pocket and drove away.
"Quatre-chan?"
Quatre wiped his eyes and turned from the window to see one of his sisters, her long, ash-blonde hair curling softly to her waist, her wide eyes the same dark blue as the ocean deeps. She was wringing her hands nervously.
"Adrienne?" he questioned softly.
"I... Quatre-chan, I'm so sorry all this has befallen you..." She paused a moment expectantly, but Quatre merely waited for her to continue. "Quatre-chan, I thought... if you plan to marry, there is a girl I have in mind who might meet with your approval."
"Oh?" Quatre found that he couldn't look his sister in the eye, and so his gaze aimlessly fixed on the Oriental hanging on the wall behind her. Such a waste of time and money, decorating a shuttle compartment with the finest luxuries...
"She's unlike the woman Josephine favors for your First Wife. Her name is Shammara and she is gentle and sweet-tempered... as was your own mother, Heaven bless her..."
"I see. I'm sure she's lovely," Quatre said quietly, his gaze still averted.
"Well." Adrienne paused and waited for Quatre to meet her gaze. After waiting for a few moments without success, she continued. "I can arrange for you to meet her next week-"
"No," Quatre interrupted. "Let the wedding be tonight."
"But you're in no condition for-" The stiffening of Quatre's spine was something Adrienne felt more than saw, and it was enough to cut her off mid-sentence. Quatre looked up at her at last, his head lifted in aristocratically perfect posture, his luminous eyes meeting hers resolutely with an inescapable undertone of sadness. For a moment it took her breath away, just looking at him and realizing how much like their father he looked at that moment. "Of course," Adrienne said with a slight bow. Quatre nodded stiffly and returned his gaze to the window, watching Earth turn into a watery ball against the black backdrop of space as his sister walked away.
"Trowa," Quatre whispered, his throat tight with unshed tears. "Goodbye."
End Part Two
Yoiko ^_^
Please send comments to: Yoiko