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"Wilderness"Written By: Dentelle_noir Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing AC or the
characters. GW belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. This
is a work of fiction and written for fun, not profit Rating: R Warnings: AU, Viloence, angst, fluff, Eventual
yaoi. Man bashing. Pairings: 3x4, 1x2, 5x13. Summary: Stuck on a Wilderness vacation, Father
‘toughening him up’, a deadly coincidence brings a forest
ranger and the trouble following him, into their group. Quatre will
have to prove to everyone just what the nancy-boy can do. " Wilderness" Chapter Thirteen: Rain
Quatre mussed they’d be singing one of those prison work songs soon. “Look Down. Look Down. Don’t look ‘em in the eye!” Duo, voice deep and mocking started to sing from the canoe in front of Trowa, Treize, and Quatre’s. Quatre couldn’t believe someone else had been thinking the same thing, let along sing “les miserables”! Perhaps Duo was a guy worth getting to know, after all. Quatre didn’t hate the trip too bad. Actually, he liked it just fine. The air was crisp, but he wasn’t cold. The water was ice blue and tumbling upon itself, and everywhere he looked there were canopies of the most vivid greens. Every color and shape of tree and leaves seemed to be there for the watching. It was pretty quiet in their canoe, neither Treize nor Trowa much for chatter, but every little while, he could hear Duo’s loud voice float back to their canoe chipper and joyful. But, truthfully, Quatre much rathered this boat instead; Heero hated him with a passion! And Quatre espoused a great motto in situations like these: Don’t Poke the Bear! He set back in the smooth motions of the river, taking his turns paddling and enjoying the ride around him when he saw Heero lift his paddle in the air. High and probably dripping into his hair and face, Heero gave it a sharp angle, 90 degrees pointing towards the bank on the left side of the river. Quatre couldn’t remember actually ever stopping on that side of the river before, not that it seemed any different or anything. Treize and Trowa reacted immediately, Trowa powering his paddle deep into the water and pulled hard and fast, the water spraying up when it broke the surface just to be pistoned back in seconds later. Quatre couldn’t even keep up! Treize was keeping his paddling soft and the boat swung around and set deep into shore, the motion propelling the canoe deep into the silt at the bottom of the river. Treize and Trowa dropped their paddles in the boat, practically hitting Quatre on either side and leapt over the side, the heavy sound of their boots in the water and sand followed by a massive splash. Quatre got away from most of it, but he still was doused! Ready to tell them off, the shivers already coming, Quatre was thrown off balance as, one hand on each side, Treize and Trowa pulled the canoe half onto the dry sand in record lightning speed. More than necessary in Quatre’s opinion. “Get out of the damn boat, you blonde imbecile. You’re taking up time!” Heero yelled, scaring Quatre out of his stupor rather awkwardly. Quatre began to scramble out of the canoe, saw the water he couldn’t avoid jumping straight into, and hesitated. Trowa smiled lightly to himself, and splashed over to him, gracefully lifting Quatre from the boat and moving him the two feet over to completely dry sand. A little smile, then Trowa was back to being Speedy Gonzalez and wrenching the boat up and out of the water and practically jogging to get it under a shallow rock overhang beside Heero, Duo, and Wufei’s boat. Trowa walked over to the stunned blonde and gave him an apologetic smile. Looking to Duo, Heero, and Treize heaping fallen branches in front of the make-shift garage, Trowa explained “We need to keep our boats out of sight. You know people are looking for us. We’ve lost boats before and so have many others. We can’t afford to lose them again. I should’ve warned you.” Rushing past, Heero glared homicidally and shouldered Quatre roughly towards the river. “Don’t apologize for his stupidity. I told you he shouldn’t be here if he can’t take a little god damned water.” Warm arms caught him and held him close, “Don’t listen to him. Heero’s a prick right now.” Trowa reassured him, rubbing his worn calloused hands over Quatre’s pale shoulders comfortably. Every doubt about being there vanished from Quatre’s mind in Trowa’s arms and he sighed with contentment. But, Quatre still felt miserable inside. He wasn’t used to having friends, but he hated having enemies. He would’ve liked to leave on a happy note, if he possibly could, even if it meant a few bruises on his part. As Wufei shrugged into his own pack he offered Quatre his as the rest began to don theirs. A bit confused, Quatre followed along and shouldered the big heavy thing. Once he had to hold it himself he was eternally grateful his father had insisted on the campers outdoors-y special expensive all-purpose thingy-ma-bob pack. And more importantly, that the clerk took pity on him and put the right size of pack in with their purchases. Quatre father had insisted that his son would use the manly-size one he would have been falling over with right now. Thank you store clerk! The six of them began into the woods, Treize and Duo in the lead, and Heero right behind. Quatre leaned over to Wufei, who was hiking just in front of Quatre, hurrying to catch up. “Where are we going?” He whispered. “To the caves.” Heero answered cold. Quatre was taken aback, wondering if along with his radar hearing he had X-ray vision and spider senses. Knowing they were close to evening, and they wouldn’t be trekking this far in without a reason, Quatre couldn’t resist, “Why?” Heero snapped his head around and glared daggers, Quatre wishing he hadn’t said anything. “We are looking for something.” He ground out bitterly, his look obvious he wished Quatre would curl up and die. Preferable now. Filled with a deep embarrassment that he had to endure this with Trowa and everyone watching, Quatre burned. “I can’t help if you won’t tell me what you are looking for.” Quatre steamed, finally letting out some of the pent up frustration. He knew he wasn’t good at these things. He didn’t need his nose rubbed in it. And it really was the only way to help Jane! Heero was giving him the snooty over the nose look that had Quatre bursting with frustration. “I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere. I can help, but not if you keep up with these games.” Quatre strode up to Heero, glaring right back at him, although he figured he was about as intimidating as a kitten, he didn’t necessarily care at the moment. Heero’s lip twisted and he snarled low. Quatre knew he was about to get throttled now. He really shouldn’t have said anything! “We are looking for a bat.” Duo cut in, taking Heero’s shoulder and cutting in front, putting himself between his seething boyfriend and the trembling blonde. “The Virginia Big Eared bat, to be precise.” Wufei continued, he and the rest having joined the little gathering and continuing to walk. “But we are in North Carolina?” Quatre asked, before he could shut his big mouth. While talking to Wufei, he kept forgetting Attila-the-Heero was there. “You’re sharp, Cat!” Duo cut in, smiling brightly and chewing loudly on a stick of gum he got from god knows where. “The Virginia Big Eared bat is an endangered species, even in Virginia. There aren’t many around there now. And to find them living here in N.C. is a miracle. So, when Trowa here found one, we knew we had a way to save our forest.” Duo strode next to Quatre. “This side of the river is, was, owned by the government. It was a national park. There are some nice trees and flowers and stuff. But they began to plant them in other parks around the country and now they aren’t as endangered anymore. With budget cuts and all that, they sold this side of the river. As of the end of this month. Just so happens a mining company bought it,” Duo’s face soured, “A strip mining company. Libra inc. They’re tearing the soil out from under the forest.” “What about the other side of the river?” “That’s owned by the Wilderness trips company and a few private hunters and loggers and such renting the company land. Its fine, and Pop can handle it just fine. But when the company destroys the other side, who’s going to want to come here?” Duo said. “Your, Pop?” “Yeah, Well, My uncle actually, but he raised me for the last couple of years. He owns the Wilderness Tours Company.” Duo said proudly. “But they want to destroy my forest.” Trowa’s voice cut the two way conversation hostilely. “I’ve only been ranger here for the summer, but I refuse to let them tear up my forest. Before my father rose up in ranks in the army, I had never left Deltaware. Deltaware Ontario, I’m from the population 2,000 kind of town in the Canadian shield with nothing but a plastics factory and a mostly self contained air force base on the edge.” “I leaned how to climb and hike there, and when I heard about this program I jumped at the chance. Between senior year and collage I was eligible for the job. They sent me out to be a Youth Ranger at this state park. I made a lot of friends, and got reacquainted with old friends. This forest has done so much for me; I’m already attached to it. I can’t just let them destroy it. That’s why we have to stop this.” Trowa finished. Quatre felt his heart warm. That was so--so a Trowa thing to say! Damn he was falling hard and fast! They continued on in silence, turning from a rough trail to the brush, trekking into the uneven and grassy terrain. Quatre tripped and stumbled and jumped along, weaving through trees and moss and fallen logs trying almost hopelessly to catch up to the group. He was faced with a hill over his head, and while the rest seemed to take it in two steps he was huffing and bumbling and grasping onto anything to help him up. He made it up fine, but he was starting to think Heero was right. He was slow and new to this stuff. Wufei was right up front with the rest, and he knew for a fact Trowa was walking slower just to make Quatre feel better. Bless him, but damn him! He had said he was NO good at these things and now he really was slowing them down! The trees came thicker and denser and Quatre was having even more trouble. But so was everyone else. He was actually catching up with the rest of the group now. Quatre’s foot sank deep into a rabbit burrow and he pitched forward. Right into Heero. Turning around and growling as Quatre straightened himself, Heero stood back up and eyes fierce as he brutally pushed. Quatre fell back, grasping for something to break his fall from the surprise attack (although it shouldn’t have). A hard muscled chest and strong arms caught him. Quatre was sure Trowa was the only one who wanted him there. He really should just leave. But. The man behind him was a little too tall, and Trowa was wearing a wooly navy blue pull over, he was sure. “Heero Yuy. We’ve endured your rudeness and disrespect long enough. Quatre has not done anything to deserve your condescending attitude save try to help his friends and put himself in harms way to help strangers. We’ve had enough.” The chest behind him rumbled in restrained anger, and Quatre was incredibly surprised to look up to find Treize glaring at Heero like a father to a misbehaving son and holding him upright. It was Treize who had caught him, not Trowa. Chided, Heero clenched his jaw and abruptly turned, heading fast and deep into the dense trees continuing on the hike and not responding. Quatre caught Duo’s apologetic smile, and thanked Treize before continuing the hike, feeling a lot better. Trowa idled back at bit as they continued, coming along stride with Quatre. “Other than a pissy Heero, how are you liking the trip?” Quatre smiled, and let his eyes travel up to gaze at the canopy of trees. Each leaf glowed a different shade of green, and each step danced light off the small growing things beneath his feet. In this calm walk, slower now that Treize took lead instead of Heero, Quatre felt the spirit of the outdoors wash over him for the first time really since this trip began, enjoying the tranquil warmth and the dim light. His answer was simple and true, “I love it.” Trowa smiled lightly, “I though you hated these, quote ‘outdorsynessthingies’?” Quatre smiled again lightly, enjoying the coolness of the day, he simply shrugged, eyes watching the trees overhead. Unfortunately, he wasn’t watching the trees below his feet, and one jumped out and caught him. Stumbling, he pitched forward slightly, but caught himself in time, with a little help from Trowa, who grabbed his wrist. “Be careful there, you can daydream, but watch the path as well.” He said with a smile, his hand still on his wrist slowly crept down to entwine their two hands. Quatre looked up, catching the blush on Trowa’s cheek before he turned away, hands still locked together. Shivers ran down his spine, and not just from the sudden cool wind blowing. Quatre could feel a whole parade of butterflies running three-legged races around his stomach and a giddy feeling wash over him. So, now he could see it. Trowa had the guts to flirt around verbally, but was shy when it came to actually doing the romantic stuff. Quatre couldn’t stop the gigantic grin lighting his face, HOW CUTE! “Crap.” Duo cursed from ahead of them, “We’ve still got another ten, fifteen, to the caves. Damn. Damn, double dog damn!” Confused, Quatre was about to ask what he was referring to so respectfully, when a small wet drop landed on the tip of his nose. Then another on his cheek. Then another and another. In the period of a minute, the sky went dark and Quatre was dodging canopy to canopy to try and escape the buckets being poured down onto them, the sky had opened up and let a wave fall. Water dripped off everyone. They didn’t really even bother to quicken their pace or find shelter. The nutters just kept walking! Quatre began shivering, the wetness plastering his bangs to his face and the drone of cold, wet pellets hitting him drowned out any other forest sounds. It was really cold now. Quatre clung his arms around his chest, Trowa’s leefa was living up to it’s guarantee to keep you warm, but wouldn’t for long; it was soaking up the rain like crazy, just as it was supposed to do, but from the inside not the out. Even his socks were making squishy sounds as he walked. Why did it have to pour down now! And why wasn’t anyone hurrying! He could see their clothes were as wet as his and their hair was flat against their scalps, Treize would be mad, his was all over the place, and yet, they still just sauntered on! But, hey, who cared anyway. It was just pouring rain. But he knew if he said anything, Heero would go ballistic on him again. He’d rather freeze to death than face that right now, thank you very much. He spolshed, and sunk, and squished along, waiting for their trek to end. He was starting to feel numb in his exposed arms and his thighs had stopped protesting to the cold in a way that worried him. The water retaining-to-conserve-heat shirt had sucked up every drop and was plastered to his ribs. He should have worn the water-proof nylon coat like Wufei had told him too, the scratchy sound and too-large arms be damned. At least his legs were still moving. He couldn’t stop his teeth from chattering, and his entire body shook and jittered, but he carried on. “Holy Shit. Cat, your lips are blue.” Wufei exclaimed, turning to face him and wrapping his really nice and warm arms around him. “Why didn’t you say something?” Wufei whispered, his lips at Quatre’s ears as he hugged him close, his body heat radiating through his back as they continued to walk, although Quatre could swear that they had started moving faster. “I d-d-didn’t want t-to up-p-set anyone.” Quatre quaked out. He hadn’t realized how bad his shivers were until he tried to speak. “We’re almost there, Cat. Alright. Just a few more minutes.” Wufei cooed into his ears, appalled at the cold from his friend’s skin. He hadn’t realized just how quick the cold effected Quatre until he held him. Even his cheeks and arms felt almost dead cold. Wufei was just as soaked, but he wasn’t even a quarter frozen as Quatre was. He had said he didn’t like the cold, but holy man, Wufei had never seen anyone turn so blue so fast. “I’m sorry Cat” Wufei said. He blamed himself, of course, “If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in hating Trey, I would’ve noticed sooner. I’ll try to be a better friend.” Wufei still thought they were friends? Quatre was enthralled! He had never had a friend that went to such lengths to protect him. “Where ar-are we go-ing?” Quatre trembled out. Damn, it, couldn’t his voice stay still for one second! Just one! Before Wufei could answer, Duo hoped for joy, “There she is!” And true enough, a few steps later, the trees cleared to show a huge gapping blackness, stretched out like an ogre yawn. “Ain’t she beautiful!” Duo sang, running into the blackness he seemed to think, in his little crazy-person mind, was welcoming. “Come on, get in out of the rain!” Duo motioned with wild flailing arms, swinging wet droplets from his clothes all around the cave floor. Quatre liked the rain better.
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