Chapter One
-What Haunts Me Most-
The rain came down in showers upon them. Their only defense was the rocks in which they hid behind. It had been days since
they had abandoned there suits and slowly, one by one, had taken out the men that stalked them. These last four had proven
a challenge. Duo wiped his wet, matted bangs from his eyes and reloaded. The ground beneath him was muddy and hard to
stand on, making it even harder to cover his comrades as they reloaded their own weapons.
Heero came down beside him, taking his que to go up inevitable. Taking a deep breathe and as quickly as he could, the God
of Death rose to his feet and began to fire. He was soon joined by Trowa, who also fired into the darkness of the night. Quatre
soon followed, leveling out and firing with his good arm. All shook from the cold breeze that blew. A click from his gun informed
Duo he was out of bullets once more. Shots ricochet off the rocks in front of him, and sliding in the mud, he took his seat once.
"I'm out...." he spoke exhaustedly.
"Then reload again Maxwell..." Heero hissed as he fired off his last shots.
"No, I mean that's it....no more bullets." He threw the gun to the ground and leaned back against the rocks. "We need to get out
of here. Quatre's hurt and we all need to sleep. I can take out these little fucks, while you guys take the path."
"It's to risky, and I'm not leaving you to get killed by these assholes...." Trowa took his last shot and sat beside him.
"Well it's better then just sitting here and getting shot at!" A bullet shot past them, making them take cover behind near by trees.
"Damn it! They flanked out..."
Then there was silence. The only sound was that of the rain beating through the trees around them. Heero made his way over to Duo
and sat down slowly waving to Wufei to join them. "Do you have a plan or do we split up...it would be harder for them to follow us...."
"We can't...Quatre shouldn't be left alone with his injuries and it seems none of us have a line of defense anymore...." Heero looked over
his options carefully, making Duo even more impatient then normal.
"I told you the plan, why can't you trust me?"
"It's irrational and stupid....just give me a minute to think."
Duo squinted his eyes to look across at Trowa, who seemed to be tending to a beaten Quatre. Both gazes met, Duo sensing the urgency in
the circus boys eyes. It had been quiet for sometime, neither side firing for at least five minutes. He knew what had to be done...Heero just
couldn't see or trust that. Suddenly, his ears perked up....he heard someone moving towards them..and then it stopped. Then came the sound
of metal scraping and a tinkling of something small being dropped. Behind them came a small thump.....
"MOVE!" Quickly, he shoved the two away and followed, but not quick enough. The grenade exploded sending the boys flying in all different
direction. Trees tumbled, dirt flew, the path they had run down not to long before was blocked and impassable. And once again the only sound
was rain coming down upon them. Three young soldiers came jogging to search for their fellow man. They soon did pinned beneath a near
by tree, dead. After taking a moment to grieve, they soon made their way on to find the ones they had been sent to eliminate. Such destruction
the small blast had caused and from where they stood, no sign of anything left of the boys.
"Do you think they got away?," one asked another.
"If they did, they won't last long. That blast took out everything in the area. We can just assume...."
"But sir, these are the Gundam pilots. These boys have been known to come back from the dead! Perhaps it would be wise to stay and search a while longer....."
"No man would have survived that, blessed by any God or not. I for one have the brains to see that nothing is left of them, and wish to get out of this
horrid weather before we become unable to fight. Move out!" With there final command, the three remaining men walked through what was left of
the woods. Their mission had been completed...so they thought.
Near by the woods they had once hidden was a steep hill, which leads to the river. The force from the blow sent the five flying off it and scattered along
it's shore line. Trees, rocks and limbs had fallen with them, covering their mangled bodies. The rain, if possible came down harder then before. They had been defeated, but not killed. Blood mixed with water, attracting the bugs to haunt them. Heero, was the first to open his eyes.
Stiffly, he began to sit up, rubble spilling off his back. His vision was foggy and dark, the limbs he had not long before moved easily, now took more
time to react to his wishes. His emotions were mixed: pain, confusion and newest to him....fear. As his eyes began to focus, he looked around for his fellow comrades. He soon made contact with Wufei, whom himself was coming to. Heero noticed a large gash up his arm most likely from a falling tree
branch. Trying to get up, he found it impossible. His hip had been dislocated in the fall.
"Not again," he hissed through his teeth. Lying on his back, he grabbed firmly behind his knee and jerked his appendage back into place. Shaking it off, he soon found a strong branch to tie onto it and wrapped his coat around. Once sure it was secure, he slowly got to his feet and made his way over to the Shenlong pilot.
"Yuy?....Nothing kills you does it..." Wufei got on his knees and inspected the damage done to his arm.
"I could say the same for you..." he looked up as the rain came down on them. "I took to long to think of a plan and now.... people have been hurt.... where's Maxwell?!"
"From the way you were talking, I thought you had already found him...." Wufei now also showed his concern for the boy that normally tortured him.
Both began to frantically search for the remaining pilots. Wufei headed back the hill to see if they had been pinned beneath the wreckage while Heero made his way up the river bank. As he quickly moved further up, he came upon Trowa, how was sitting up on his own looking out across the river. By his side was Quatre, still knocked out and covered by his close friends jacket. "Your alive....thank goodness."
"How is he?" Heero asked as he approached them. Trowa looked to the smallest and brushed the wet bangs from his pale face.
"Bruised, bloody, feverish...he needs to get somewhere warm and dry soon...have you seen the others?"
"I found Wufei, but we haven't seen Maxwell...." His voice became soft and full of worry. Just then, he heard a cry come from up the hill.
"HEERO! There!" Wufei pointed to the other side of the river, where he could just barely make out the form of a young boy. Splashing across the quick moving water, he gently rolled him over. He was amazed to see the boys amethyst eyes looking back at him in great pain.
"Duo...."
"This...this is why you should...listen to...to me...more..." he tried to laugh, but only coughed up a considerable amount of blood. His injuries were internal and most likely life threatening. It wasn't like Duo to do something half assed. The boy in his arms began to shiver, as he once again took his time to figure out what to do.
"Trowa come help me get him to shore!" Almost instantly, he was by his side and slowly lifting Duo into his arms. Both made their way back across and set him down next to 04. "You need to rest, close your eyes and when you wake, you'll be somewhere safe..." he said trying to comfort the boy, but he only got a disapproving shake of the head.
"I can't....I'm too scared to..."
All of them seemed to be shocked by his response. Duo...afraid of something? It must have been a misunderstanding, or perhaps he was feverish or in shock. It didn't matter right now. They need to get themselves inside and treated soon, or they would not last long. There was nothing near by to stay in...which meant one of them would have to steal a car. The road wasn't that far from their current location, so Wufei headed out leaving the four of them to try and stay as dry and alive as possible.
Trowa and Heero made a make-shift shelter for them while they waited. Duo, who was half with it, shook from the cold and looked at his surroundings while Quatre remained asleep on the cold ground. Trowa, every once and a while would mess with the wet bangs on his best friends face. Heero watched his gentle actions with great awe.
"What is it?", 03 asked noticing that he was being watched.
"Huh?....nothing. You just seem really worried is all. I know Quatre means a lot to you. It's my fault.... I couldn't come up with an escape root fast enough."
"This is no ones fault. We all knew the consequences when we took on this job...and we knew that it wouldn't always be easy. We should just be thankful that we all made it out alive...for now. What about Duo?.....He means a lot to you two...right?"
"He's a comrade in war...that's about it." He turned to the Deathscythe pilot who had finally fallen asleep. He looked hard into his pained expression, and couldn't help but feel sick inside. Why didn't I listen to you, he thought to himself. Trowa watched as he slowly brought his hand up to move the brown blotches of hair from Duo's face when a truck horn beeped. Just down the bank, Wufei climbed out of one of the four seats and helped them move the two boys into the back seat. Trowa sat in the middle to support their heads while Wufei and Heero took the front.
"When I was in town, I found an old warehouse they used to hold Gundam parts in....that should be safe enough to stay in for now. If any trouble comes up, we can have the professors send us money to buy the space. How are they holding up?"
Heero kept his gaze out the window watching as the rain began to slow down almost as if he hadn't heard a word the Shenlong pilot said.
"Duo needs to be treated as soon as possibly as does Quatre....did you get a chance to pick up some supplies?" The two continued to talk as they made their way down the washed over road into the small city setting.
Breaking the glass in the door, the five carried their fallen inside and began to make beds from anything the army and left behind. Luckily, it was quiet the selection of blankets, medical supplies and rations. Quatre was moved upstairs to an empty office where Trowa began the process of removing the bullet from his arm while Heero and Wufei started to clean, sow and bandage Maxwell.
"This is bad...I've never seen him this trashed before...." Wufei murmured as he cleaned the burns on the boy's back.
"..."
"Perhaps you should rest yourself Heero, you don't look well..."
"Neither do you. I'll rest when we are finished. Why don't you go see if they have dry uniforms we can sleep in, I'll finish up here."
"Sure..." Standing, he walked off to search through the bins. Heero continued to wrap Duo's arm and sighed heavily. The same pained expression was on his face from earlier. Shifting, he laid down next to his friend and began to drift to sleep, Duo's arm still in his hand.
Please....you need to be all right....he thought as he finally got some sleep.
-What Haunts Me Most-
The rain came down in showers upon them. Their only defense was the rocks in which they hid behind. It had been days since
they had abandoned there suits and slowly, one by one, had taken out the men that stalked them. These last four had proven
a challenge. Duo wiped his wet, matted bangs from his eyes and reloaded. The ground beneath him was muddy and hard to
stand on, making it even harder to cover his comrades as they reloaded their own weapons.
Heero came down beside him, taking his que to go up inevitable. Taking a deep breathe and as quickly as he could, the God
of Death rose to his feet and began to fire. He was soon joined by Trowa, who also fired into the darkness of the night. Quatre
soon followed, leveling out and firing with his good arm. All shook from the cold breeze that blew. A click from his gun informed
Duo he was out of bullets once more. Shots ricochet off the rocks in front of him, and sliding in the mud, he took his seat once.
"I'm out...." he spoke exhaustedly.
"Then reload again Maxwell..." Heero hissed as he fired off his last shots.
"No, I mean that's it....no more bullets." He threw the gun to the ground and leaned back against the rocks. "We need to get out
of here. Quatre's hurt and we all need to sleep. I can take out these little fucks, while you guys take the path."
"It's to risky, and I'm not leaving you to get killed by these assholes...." Trowa took his last shot and sat beside him.
"Well it's better then just sitting here and getting shot at!" A bullet shot past them, making them take cover behind near by trees.
"Damn it! They flanked out..."
Then there was silence. The only sound was that of the rain beating through the trees around them. Heero made his way over to Duo
and sat down slowly waving to Wufei to join them. "Do you have a plan or do we split up...it would be harder for them to follow us...."
"We can't...Quatre shouldn't be left alone with his injuries and it seems none of us have a line of defense anymore...." Heero looked over
his options carefully, making Duo even more impatient then normal.
"I told you the plan, why can't you trust me?"
"It's irrational and stupid....just give me a minute to think."
Duo squinted his eyes to look across at Trowa, who seemed to be tending to a beaten Quatre. Both gazes met, Duo sensing the urgency in
the circus boys eyes. It had been quiet for sometime, neither side firing for at least five minutes. He knew what had to be done...Heero just
couldn't see or trust that. Suddenly, his ears perked up....he heard someone moving towards them..and then it stopped. Then came the sound
of metal scraping and a tinkling of something small being dropped. Behind them came a small thump.....
"MOVE!" Quickly, he shoved the two away and followed, but not quick enough. The grenade exploded sending the boys flying in all different
direction. Trees tumbled, dirt flew, the path they had run down not to long before was blocked and impassable. And once again the only sound
was rain coming down upon them. Three young soldiers came jogging to search for their fellow man. They soon did pinned beneath a near
by tree, dead. After taking a moment to grieve, they soon made their way on to find the ones they had been sent to eliminate. Such destruction
the small blast had caused and from where they stood, no sign of anything left of the boys.
"Do you think they got away?," one asked another.
"If they did, they won't last long. That blast took out everything in the area. We can just assume...."
"But sir, these are the Gundam pilots. These boys have been known to come back from the dead! Perhaps it would be wise to stay and search a while longer....."
"No man would have survived that, blessed by any God or not. I for one have the brains to see that nothing is left of them, and wish to get out of this
horrid weather before we become unable to fight. Move out!" With there final command, the three remaining men walked through what was left of
the woods. Their mission had been completed...so they thought.
Near by the woods they had once hidden was a steep hill, which leads to the river. The force from the blow sent the five flying off it and scattered along
it's shore line. Trees, rocks and limbs had fallen with them, covering their mangled bodies. The rain, if possible came down harder then before. They had been defeated, but not killed. Blood mixed with water, attracting the bugs to haunt them. Heero, was the first to open his eyes.
Stiffly, he began to sit up, rubble spilling off his back. His vision was foggy and dark, the limbs he had not long before moved easily, now took more
time to react to his wishes. His emotions were mixed: pain, confusion and newest to him....fear. As his eyes began to focus, he looked around for his fellow comrades. He soon made contact with Wufei, whom himself was coming to. Heero noticed a large gash up his arm most likely from a falling tree
branch. Trying to get up, he found it impossible. His hip had been dislocated in the fall.
"Not again," he hissed through his teeth. Lying on his back, he grabbed firmly behind his knee and jerked his appendage back into place. Shaking it off, he soon found a strong branch to tie onto it and wrapped his coat around. Once sure it was secure, he slowly got to his feet and made his way over to the Shenlong pilot.
"Yuy?....Nothing kills you does it..." Wufei got on his knees and inspected the damage done to his arm.
"I could say the same for you..." he looked up as the rain came down on them. "I took to long to think of a plan and now.... people have been hurt.... where's Maxwell?!"
"From the way you were talking, I thought you had already found him...." Wufei now also showed his concern for the boy that normally tortured him.
Both began to frantically search for the remaining pilots. Wufei headed back the hill to see if they had been pinned beneath the wreckage while Heero made his way up the river bank. As he quickly moved further up, he came upon Trowa, how was sitting up on his own looking out across the river. By his side was Quatre, still knocked out and covered by his close friends jacket. "Your alive....thank goodness."
"How is he?" Heero asked as he approached them. Trowa looked to the smallest and brushed the wet bangs from his pale face.
"Bruised, bloody, feverish...he needs to get somewhere warm and dry soon...have you seen the others?"
"I found Wufei, but we haven't seen Maxwell...." His voice became soft and full of worry. Just then, he heard a cry come from up the hill.
"HEERO! There!" Wufei pointed to the other side of the river, where he could just barely make out the form of a young boy. Splashing across the quick moving water, he gently rolled him over. He was amazed to see the boys amethyst eyes looking back at him in great pain.
"Duo...."
"This...this is why you should...listen to...to me...more..." he tried to laugh, but only coughed up a considerable amount of blood. His injuries were internal and most likely life threatening. It wasn't like Duo to do something half assed. The boy in his arms began to shiver, as he once again took his time to figure out what to do.
"Trowa come help me get him to shore!" Almost instantly, he was by his side and slowly lifting Duo into his arms. Both made their way back across and set him down next to 04. "You need to rest, close your eyes and when you wake, you'll be somewhere safe..." he said trying to comfort the boy, but he only got a disapproving shake of the head.
"I can't....I'm too scared to..."
All of them seemed to be shocked by his response. Duo...afraid of something? It must have been a misunderstanding, or perhaps he was feverish or in shock. It didn't matter right now. They need to get themselves inside and treated soon, or they would not last long. There was nothing near by to stay in...which meant one of them would have to steal a car. The road wasn't that far from their current location, so Wufei headed out leaving the four of them to try and stay as dry and alive as possible.
Trowa and Heero made a make-shift shelter for them while they waited. Duo, who was half with it, shook from the cold and looked at his surroundings while Quatre remained asleep on the cold ground. Trowa, every once and a while would mess with the wet bangs on his best friends face. Heero watched his gentle actions with great awe.
"What is it?", 03 asked noticing that he was being watched.
"Huh?....nothing. You just seem really worried is all. I know Quatre means a lot to you. It's my fault.... I couldn't come up with an escape root fast enough."
"This is no ones fault. We all knew the consequences when we took on this job...and we knew that it wouldn't always be easy. We should just be thankful that we all made it out alive...for now. What about Duo?.....He means a lot to you two...right?"
"He's a comrade in war...that's about it." He turned to the Deathscythe pilot who had finally fallen asleep. He looked hard into his pained expression, and couldn't help but feel sick inside. Why didn't I listen to you, he thought to himself. Trowa watched as he slowly brought his hand up to move the brown blotches of hair from Duo's face when a truck horn beeped. Just down the bank, Wufei climbed out of one of the four seats and helped them move the two boys into the back seat. Trowa sat in the middle to support their heads while Wufei and Heero took the front.
"When I was in town, I found an old warehouse they used to hold Gundam parts in....that should be safe enough to stay in for now. If any trouble comes up, we can have the professors send us money to buy the space. How are they holding up?"
Heero kept his gaze out the window watching as the rain began to slow down almost as if he hadn't heard a word the Shenlong pilot said.
"Duo needs to be treated as soon as possibly as does Quatre....did you get a chance to pick up some supplies?" The two continued to talk as they made their way down the washed over road into the small city setting.
Breaking the glass in the door, the five carried their fallen inside and began to make beds from anything the army and left behind. Luckily, it was quiet the selection of blankets, medical supplies and rations. Quatre was moved upstairs to an empty office where Trowa began the process of removing the bullet from his arm while Heero and Wufei started to clean, sow and bandage Maxwell.
"This is bad...I've never seen him this trashed before...." Wufei murmured as he cleaned the burns on the boy's back.
"..."
"Perhaps you should rest yourself Heero, you don't look well..."
"Neither do you. I'll rest when we are finished. Why don't you go see if they have dry uniforms we can sleep in, I'll finish up here."
"Sure..." Standing, he walked off to search through the bins. Heero continued to wrap Duo's arm and sighed heavily. The same pained expression was on his face from earlier. Shifting, he laid down next to his friend and began to drift to sleep, Duo's arm still in his hand.
Please....you need to be all right....he thought as he finally got some sleep.