"Shadow Man"

Written By: Kaeru Shisho

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Yaoi, AU, angst, sap, romance, drama

Pairings: 1x3, 2x4, 5xC

Summary: Hardly more than a shadow himself, Trowa glimpses the shade cast across the concrete of another young man, who is about to make a fatal mistake.

A/N: This story takes place in a universe more like ours today, where the colonies exist, but not in space, and where the world is on the cusp of change

" Shadow Man"

Chapter 2

The reality of the situation started to soak in during the ambulance ride. I kept seeing his shadow then his fall replaying in an endless loop. Now I was sneaking into the circus sector, my world. His falling...

Good thing no one talked to me. I didn't know what I might blurt out with. I'd been forgotten. The rescue team concentrated on Heron, continuing to treat him as we sped through town, sirens blaring.

I must have made a sound or something, because one of the guys looked my way and tried explaining what they were doing. "This is to unblock his airways and assist his breathing. He might have broken ribs, collar bone. We're trying to keep his blood circulating despite internal damage and stabilize him."

"Oh." Fuck, he looked awful and I looked away, anyplace but at the limp body. I felt numb. The rocking action put me in sleep-mode, only to be jerked awake when the van stopped moving.

"We're here. It's up to the hospital personnel to take over once we get him out."

I sprung from the door like I'd been freed from jail. What the hell was I doing, I wondered? In the next heartbeat I was thinking how it was too late to question what I'd done. I had to go forward as best I could.

I had his wallet, phone, they gave me his keys and watch, the folded note from his hand was mine, too, now. I carried his backpack and my bag. It was like being two people at once.

Getting Heron past security wasn't the trick, the EM crew took care of that with the forms they'd filled out. I, however, couldn't go in using his name, not without the circus ID.

I fumbled for my wallet.

"He's a relative," the rescue guy called out and pointed at me. "We already ID'd him."

That gave me time to once again gather my pieces and use some slight-of-hand. I showed them two half cards with my thumb covering the seam, the circus logo visible, and the Trowa Barton name on top. The lighting was poor and the ID check was a token gesture after basically being flagged through by the crew.

Inside, I started feeling better. I'd gotten Heron away from a dangerous family situation and into a hospital- and I'd gotten away with it. I didn't even think to process any other scenario, like I'd been wrong about the call from home. I felt elated and adrenalin pumped.

Elation is overrated. Mine lasted about as long as it did with palm-sex.

I was not prepared for the chaos at the emergency room. The ER team looked like a swarm of bees. Doctors and nurses buzzed everywhere and everyone seemed to be talking all at once. As I studied the activity, though, I spotted a method to the chaos; each person had a task, and they worked together to take care of the patient.

"Hey, you! Kid?"

My entire body tingled. I'd been found out!

The security man blocked my way. "That's for EM personnel only." He gestured over his shoulder with a thumb toward another door. "Waiting room's thataway."

Was that all?! I shivered with the sudden loss of tension. "Oh," I mumbled. "Yeah, right." What a relief!

I collapsed into an empty chair. They were all empty. I picked one on the end and loaded the next one with the bags I'd been carrying. Folks got hurt in the circus, but this was my first time waiting for someone.

Waiting.

I was feeling really overwhelmed just by being at the ER and facing the uncertainty of what was going to happen. I wasn't going to be given access to Heron, that much was obvious, and even more unsettling. If he woke up and started talking? What then? He was hurt pretty bad, though. He might not be really with it. I didn't know fuckall, so, I prepared to wait without much information.

The waiting room was void of music or a TV or other people. With nothing to distract me, I relived my vivid memories of every second of the shadow reaching for the retreating roof and falling into a broken heap. I wondered if he had wanted to die in his final few seconds. There seemed to have been a desperate attempt to reach the roof there at the end, or I had imagined that? The sounds of his body hitting the ground ultimately punched home the reality.

A pile of magazines lay scattered across a small side table. The magazine on top looked the least dog-eared. On the cover was a mixed bag of photos featuring the great peace icon, Heero Yuy, and the title "Ten years later: Remembering a leader in peace". The issue was dated back to six months ago, which meant the others were ancient.

Guessing how old the reading material was kept me busy for a while. Then I started thinking about the war. Most of the guys my age and older had left the circus and signed up to fight, that's why I had so few friends left. The girls stayed on and the clowns.

I thought back to one tie when me and bunch of friends, some younger, skipped school and ran off to enlist. I was still in line when my sister stormed up, yelling at us and the recruitment officers. She had even brought papers to prove many of us were underage.

Fuck! I was so embarrassed! I had really hated her for that.

The next day, the others went back, joined up and were carted off. I hadn't been invited along. I wondered how many of them were still alive? I was. If I hadn't been, then that guy in the ER wouldn't be alive, probably. I should have been happy about that, but I was still mad at my sister.

Hurt.

And now I'd hurt her back for sure, bringing him here under a false name, my name.

"Triton!"

Oh, no, Catherine! My sister! Guilt lent me strength; I jumped to my feet in a heartbeat.

"God! You're okay! You ARE okay, right?" She hugged me hard then pushed me away to look me over.

I should have known someone here would have notified her when "Triton Bloom" was admitted!

"I'm fine, really." I convinced her to let go and sit.

She smeared a hand across her eyes. Tears for me. My raw throat tightened and my stomach twisted up and ached.

"It's a guy in there." I dropped my voice so no one but Catherine could hear what I had to say. "I was there when he jumped... and fell." It was hard to explain what I'd seen and what I'd done next. "I switched ID's so he could come here."

Now that she wasn't panicking for my safety, Catherine switched to angry. "I could kill you!" she said, clenching her teeth. "How stupid could you be?"

"Tell me," I goaded her. She would anyway, was my guess.

"You bet I will. Lying to security? Ugh! You make a few rash decisions to 'save' some friend of yours and didn't it occur to you that there would be consequences to breaking the law?"

"I wasn't thinking of me at the time."

"-which puts you in a bind, legally, with the circus. How can we pay for his hospitalization? What happens when they find out it's not you?"

"I had to; don't you see?" I explained the phone call I'd taken from his guardian or dad or whoever that was at "home". "I couldn't let that man get to him. I had to protect him and bring him here."

"Gimme that phone," she demanded. "And the ID's."

I handed over the cell and wallet, but not our ID's, I wasn't so entirely in shock not to think about protecting him still.

"What's this?" she asked. Before I could stop her, she was reading the note. "Oh, God! Did you read this?"

"No! It was in his hand. His. I put it with his stuff."

"Well, you need to hear this."

"No-"

She read it aloud anyway.

"We're through, dumbshit. I found a better, richer, classier boy-toy (her emphasis, I decided). And so you won't be hiding behind Lena anymore, I've enrolled her someplace where you can't find her. Don't try contacting me or Lena. You know I can make your life miserable there. -ZM"

Heron and Merquise?! He was gay? The phone call and the note seemed to confirm that theory. I'd either heard what I wanted or not, but what I concluded was that Merquise was dropping him for some other dude and moving his sister to a new school so Heron wouldn't be able to hide sexual preference that way. Fuckin' ... No way!

"He's gay!" she declared, as if he were some mutant alien.

"So?" If I sounded defensive, it was because I was. "He needed help and I was there."

"But he's gay! Just more trouble. You can't expect to become friends with him."

Get a clue, sis. "You know that wouldn't matter to me." I muttered this into my hands.

I wasn't a very social person, but I had had a few inept encounters with both girls and guys. I was just getting used to the idea that I was pretty neutral on the girls and rather hot on the guys. Catherine was observant and noted my lack of dating. She'd pointed it out to me once or twice, so she had to suspect.

Not that my being gay or his being gay actually accounted for anything as far as getting to know Heron was concerned. He inhabited a world outside of mine, the ruling class at the school. Those guys didn't give the "carnies" or "circus freaks" the time of day. Once he woke up and could get away, he'd leave me pronto.

I felt a dark energy close in around me, an overwhelming sadness and hopelessness. Fucking idiot. I bet the emergency stuff was going to cost me, like Catherine said. I hadn't given that a thought. Was it just me? Did anyone think about those things, weigh it all in judgment under life-or death circumstances?

Didn't you just try and save a life?

I must have looked as if I'd suffered enough, because her tone softened a notch. "He's not one of us. Why did you bring him here?"

Now she was repeating herself.

"I just can't understand you. Didn't you think for a second what might happen to you for breaking the law?"

"No, no, no! I was thinking of him and his being tortured at home. Even animals get more protection."

I broke down, leaking out my eyes and nose, and she saw I was a mess and took pity on me. Her purse opened and closed, and then she stuffed a packet of tissues into my hand.

"Blow your nose."

I did.

"So what happened to him? Start over. How did he get hurt?"

"He... fell... off the cafeteria roof at school. I don't know what he was doing up there. Kinda a jock. Goofing around, probably." I was not a good liar with Catherine.

"Triton." I felt her eyes studying me, while I stared at the worn magazine covers. "You don't have a... crush on this boy, do you?" The hesitation made the question more of a condemnation.

Fucking hell, God, yes! He was gorgeous! Falling for the fallen was a possibility, but since that sounded ridiculous I chose to simply shake my head "no". "I hardly know him."

"That's a blessing, I guess." She continued to glower at me, maybe trying to stare the truth out of me, but I had nothing to give. "So, it was an accident and you called for help. Okay. No matter what, we have to get the name mix-up corrected. You were in shock and mixed up the ID's. All we have to do is find his and hand it over. What did you do with it?"

I didn't remember. I'd blocked that out. "His wallet." It was what I thought I might have done with it.

"No, it's not there. Think again. Check your pockets."

Oh, yeah. That's where I'd stowed it. Now I remembered, but I didn't check. I wasn't turning him in. "If he gets sent to the regular hospital, what do you think that bastard at home will do to him?"

"It's not our business-."

"It's mine."

We had a staring contest and I won- one determined eye against two.

"I know I'm going to regret this," she said, sighing. "What have you said so far to the authorities?"

"I just talked to the medics and, oh, yeah, one security guy outside the hospital. I told them we were cousins."

"Cousins? Okay, that can work until he wakes up and starts talking. We'll need a false ID."

"Put his name as ... Heero Yuy," I said with a glance to the magazine cover.

"Now that's just plain stupid," she was rifling through her purse. She pulled out a note pad and pen. "That man's famous and dead."

"No, it's not stupid. He's Asian, for the most part, and maybe he was named after the guy."

I was in luck. She didn't do the math in her head, calculating the ages and making sense of what I'd said. "All right. We'll go with that. He's a distant cousin, half or step cousin, you just learned of, visiting."

Her eyes concentrated on me again. "You'll have to stay here, you realize? The moment he's aware and talking, you have to fill him in on what you've done and hope to God he's willing to play along. If not, then we're both in more trouble than I want to imagine."

I felt bad now. Before, it was just me. I hadn't cared or even thought about what I was getting into, but now I'd made my sister a partner in crime. And for what? The chance that once Heron understood my motives he'd be grateful for my sticking my nose in where it didn't belong, and then go along with it? Heero Yuy? Fuck.

"Yeah, I know. I'll stay. I'll do it!" I said irritably.

"You'd better. Fingers crossed it doesn't take long either because the circus season opens soon and we have tons to do." She stood, reaching for her purse. "I'm going to find Carl and get... Heero... a temporary visitor's ID. Do you have any money?"

What for? "No."

She pushed a few bills into my hands. "Eat. See if you can catch some sleep now, while it's quiet. It'll be hours before he comes to, probably."

I nodded, hating to be treated like a kid, but feeling like I deserved it.

I couldn't have eaten the best food on the planet even if it had it been served to me on a silver platter. My stomach felt like one big knot. My nerves were so jangled that I was exhausted, so I stretched over three chairs, plus my own, and closed my eyes.

A hand slapped my face, hard, and woke me up with an additional shake. "Wha-a... who?"

I should have recognized the talon grip of my martial-arts-hardened friend without blinking at him. "Wufei?"

"I damned near had a heart attack when Cathy called, telling-no-crying... screeching how you were in the ICU! That occurred right before I was to go on! Good thing it was only a rehearsal and I was using a dull sword! I broke every speed law getting here as soon as humanly possible, something I never have done before, and here you are, looking perfectly fit."

"I, ah, was taking a nap."

If looks could kill, I'da been cremated on the spot. His adrenalin rush must have been wearing off, which meant he'd be left with the burning desire to somehow put me in the ICU where I belonged. He had many methods to bring about my demise at his fingertips.

"If there is any justice in this world, you will give up three years of your life for mine, and Catherine's!"

I half-listened to his ranting. We were best friends. That counted for something. I took that chance.

"Shut the fuck up, Chang! Jesus! Will you gimme a chance to talk? I'm okay, yeah, but there's a dude in there who's really fucked up seriously."

"Tell me who."

"If I tell you, you can't blurt it out, understand?" I pantomimed a "zip it" across my lips. I waited for the curt nod which I could trust would bind him to secrecy. One clipped intolerant motion. Before he blew his top waiting, I whispered, "Okay. He got checked in as Triton Bloom, but he's Heron Lowe. The soccer team leader I've told you about. You saw him play that time you came to a game with me."

Wufei had not actually met Heron. He'd never attended the high school. He'd avoided that insult to his person by having come to the circus with his education complete years earlier. A genius and a prodigy. Lucky guy.

His mouth flew open then snapped shut. Because he couldn't not say something, he ground out, "Him?! Why-?"

I gave him the low down of what happened, my warning, the jump, fall, the phone call. The note I didn't mention. That should have been Heron's private information and I felt strongly about keeping it secret.

"Abusive guardian-hopefully not a blood relative. Suicide attempt?" he asked me.

"I thought so. That's why I brought him here and not downtown where some fuckwad could get to him."

Wufei shook his head. "I hope he doesn't turn you in when he comes to."

"If he comes to," I emphasized my doubt because I was really worried for him. "That's why I'm here waiting. Well, partly. As soon as I can see him, I'm going to try to explain and hope he's not so pissed to be alive that he'd blow everything and tell them his real name."

"He might do that anyway. He might not remember why he jumped and not believe what you tell him."

I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't thought beyond "take him home." That much was painfully obvious.

"It immaterial," he told me. "We know nothing. He might not even survive."

With all of the stress and worry I wasn't thinking clearly and couldn't take it all in. I buried my face in my hands and sat, elbows on knees, wishing I could turn back time.

He patted my back, two pats, but two more than he had ever before. "You did the honorable thing."

Now that did help make me feel better.

"Trowa Barton?"

I looked up at a man in a white jacket.

"Are you Triton Bloom's cousin?"

"Close enough."

"I'm the EM Doctor." Oh. "I wanted to bring you up to date on your cousin's condition." The doctor was looking at my friend, though; possibly he was expecting Wufei to give us some privacy. He didn't know my friend, obviously.

"It's okay. He knows-"

"I am a relative, too." Wufei spoke up. "I am here to help him remember the details and ask questions he won't think of."

"Very well-" The doctor said uncertainly, assessing our entirely different looks and how Heron could be related to us both.

"How is he?" I asked. Just get to the point.

"At this time, he is stable. He has sustained a serious head injury and numerous broken bones. The plan is to set the legs and keep him in traction while we watch his progress. If necessary, we are prepared for surgery. After that, if all goes well and we know the extent of his internal injuries, we can put him in a full body cast if required later, but I don't think that will be necessary at this time. Mostly, we wait and monitor him closely."

Full body cast-? Fuck. I must have blanked out mentally there for a few seconds because when I tuned in again, the doctor was talking to Wufei.

"-A strong predictive factor of whether or not those with severe head injury would survive or not involve the pupils, and sadly to say, 90% of patients who had bilaterally dilated pupils (not reacting to light) on admission die-"

"Will he be all right?" I just interrupted. I was real close to freaking out.

"Only time will tell. A patient's function following severe traumatic brain injury can be permanent. The pace of recovery and even the extent of recovery can be improved by proper physical and cognitive rehabilitation."

I couldn't listen to any more doctorese.

"Can I see him?"

"One at a time. Wear this," he handed me a badge. "There's an observational window. Later, you will be allowed in for a very few minutes."

"Go ahead," Wufei said. "I'll wait here for you to return."

The doctor disappeared and I passed by the secured doors. I looked through the window at the shadow guy in the ICU.

I'd seen my share of injuries. Plenty of sprains and breaks-once a clown fell off a horse, broke his arm, and there was blood from where the bone stuck out. Sickening and fascinating at the same time.

The sight of a seriously injured person in the ICU was terrifying.

I saw wires and tubes everywhere. What I could see of Heron was from a distance. He looked so vulnerable and frail and the equipment so intimidating. More than anything, I wanted to run, run far and fast. Get the hell out of the mess I'd gotten into.

TBC

Chapter 3

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