The Calling (Audiobook) (A Gundam Wing Fanfic Novel)

The Calling - Chapter 14

For the next hour, at the request of the group, Heero went over some of the more finer details of both his and Fumio's past. Dates, times, places, names, absolutely anything that could help in their quest to locate the original blueprints to Fumio's training program. Noin, in particular, seemed optimistic about there still being a chance of tracking them down. As Heero described some of the places and names, she kept making references of familiarity.

At around the same time as Quatre entered the room carrying their second tray of hot drinks that morning, the main room door opened, and Sally appeared.

"Morning everyone... again!" she said tiredly, in light humour. There were nods and subdued words of greeting.

"Did you managed to get some more sleep Sally?" asked Wufei.

Sally nodded, yawning. Quatre put the tray back down on the table and headed straight back out of the side door. About a minute later, he appeared again carrying a strong black coffee and handed it to her.

She nodded in obvious appreciation, "Looks like I've got you well trained," she grinned tiredly, "thanks, Cat."

Quatre smiled and nodded back.

"So, how is my patient?" she asked, walking towards Noin.

Fumio was still curled up like a cat, fast asleep on the sofa beside her, with his head resting on her lap. Hilde had recently covered him over with a blanket.

"He's been fine," replied Noin quietly, "just sleeping soundly."

Sally crouched down beside him and briefly inspected the bandaging on his arm, then felt his brow for temperature.

"That's good," she whispered, "the more he sleeps, the faster he'll heal."

She affectionately stroked the sleeping boy's hair before getting up and joining Heero and Quatre, sitting between them on the three-seat sofa.

"Sal, thank you for all your help last night," said Heero in a grateful tone, nodding appreciatively. "I don't think I would have been quite so calm had you not been here."

Sal patted her hand on his arm, "You're very welcome Heero. I'm just sorry about what happened, have you managed to make any sense of it yet?"

There were nods from around the room, and for the next few minutes, Sally was brought up to speed on the situation, and the plans to help track down the training blueprints.

Fumio quietly opened his eyes. He had been hearing mumbled voices for the past few minutes, although he hadn't taken much notice of what they were saying. He lay still for a moment, gathering his thoughts and his bearings. He suddenly felt soreness from all the little cuts and scratches on his face and arms, and a particularly nasty sting coming from his right forearm. Without moving, he cast his eyes toward the arm and immediately spotted the white bandaging.

He felt a sudden, desperate sinking in his heart. "Oh no," he gasped in silence to himself, "it really did happen again. I just thought I was dreaming."

A sense of growing inner panic started welling up inside him as he re-played over and over the series of dreamy and disjointed images he had somehow acquired within his mind. He tried to piece them together to figure out what must have taken place.

Suddenly he sat up, looking a little startled. Immediately the voices in the room went quiet, and then gentle but concerned words of greeting were sent towards him.

Fumio felt tired and confused. Trying his best to be polite, he quietly returned the greetings, simultaneously feeling a sense of embarrassment and exaggerated vulnerability. He felt an urgent need to get away from there, from a room full of eyes all looking at him.