well, here ya go guys. sorry for the late update... i almost forgot DX

and this is like the last chapter... there's an epilogue after this and that's it.

so yeah, enjoy!

Chapter 10

Arrival at the Drop-Zone

Finally, the rain came to a stop. But the sun was still buried by dark clouds as Heero and Duo continued on their way to the drop-zone. By now, it was somewhere near noon, and they had been walking for several hours. Since it was no longer raining, their wet clothes were finally getting a chance to dry—however; the chilly air was doing nothing to help.

Both Preventer agents felt miserable. Their clothes were wet, their bodies were cold and aching, they were depressed beyond belief, and they wanted nothing more than to go home. But they both knew that they couldn't—not yet. They had to get to the drop-zone before they could even think about putting all this behind them.

As they walked, Duo kept his hand over his wound, trying to ignore the pain. The injury was really bothering him now; twitching and stinging and burning. He could bear it—that part, he wasn't worried about—just he didn't know if it was going to get infected or if he was going to get sick because of constantly being cold and wet and the strain the wound had put on his body... he just hoped he could make it a few more days—and deep down, where his will to live still burned bright, he knew he would.

Heero didn't bother trying to hide how weary he was. There was nobody besides Duo to see, and Duo would've figured it out on his own anyways... then scolded him for pushing himself. So Heero just kept his head down, focusing on the ground as he walked, his messy chocolate brown hair hanging over his eyes. His hand was loosely holding Duo's—the only contact between them for now. He hadn't managed to recover much more of his strength in the few hours of restless sleep he had gotten last night, but he knew he had to keep going. It was only a few more days' trek anyways; and he was sure—that at some point in his life—he had had to walk much farther in much worse shape. If he had made it back safely then, then there was no excuse for him not to this time.

The day passed without many words between the two Preventer agents. Duo was really too out of it to speak, and Heero was doing his best to keep them headed in the right direction.

The next day was nearly the same; both of them lost in their own thoughts as they made their way back to the drop-zone. Heero, however, decided to disrupt the glum silence. He wanted to somehow cheer Duo up, even a little, so...

"When we get back, I'm going to give Une a piece of my mind."

Duo looked up at him, violet eyes weary.

Heero continued, forcing himself to keep looking forward, even as Duo's grip in his hand tightened, "She should've know better than to declare me dead without any viable proof, don't you think so?" he finally gazed at Duo.

"Yeah..." he said, looking back at the ground, "She shouldn't have done that..."

"You should've seen her face when she saw that I was alive. Looking back, it was actually pretty funny," Heero forced a small laugh, trying to cheer Duo up.

Duo smiled grimly, "I bet that completely ruined her whole day..."

"And when she told me that she sent you on this mission... if you had seen me, you would've laughed. I never knew I could yell so loud... I think I really scared Une too. She looked like I was about to kill her or something," said Heero, smirking at the memory.

"Nice," grinned Duo evilly, his mood finally having lifted somewhat. "And I'm right there with you about givin' her an earful. Since it is her fault that I almost committed suicide. Imagine if you came back to find me dead—not a good thing..."

"Exactly," agreed Heero with a nod. He took out the compass again to make sure they were still headed in the right direction.

Duo took his hand from Heero's, wrapping his arm around his lover's waist and leaning against him slightly, "Love you."

Heero smiled, draping his arm over Duo's shoulder, "I love you too, Duo."

. . .

"So we should only have a few more miles left to go," said Heero on the fourth day of walking.

"Awesome," smiled Duo.

The both of them were in much better moods since yesterday; and now that the mission was almost over, they really couldn't wait to go home. Still quite weary and hurt, Heero and Duo were looking forward to taking at least a week off from work once they got back.

Duo, who was leaning quite heavily on Heero at the moment, sneezed and shivered. "I knew it..." he muttered, wiping his nose.

"What is it babe? You feeling okay?" asked Heero as they walked.

"Yeah," nodded Duo, "Just I think I'm getting sick... being cold and wet for so long, I guess it was inevitable."

Heero put a hand to Duo's forehead, "Well your skin is still cool and your wounds looked alright when I checked them this morning, so it can't be too bad yet. Let me know if you need to take a break, okay? I can carry you if you need me to."

Duo took the hand that was still lingering at his forehead and kissed it. "Kay. But you're still messed up too, so I won't make you carry me," he smirked, "Unless you randomly decide to... well, let's keep this G rated." They both laughed, "But its only gonna be a few more hours, so I'm sure I can make it."

"Alright."

And those last few hours passed rather quickly. The sky looked as if it was about to burst as Heero and Duo got within a mile of the drop-zone. Duo had gotten a little worse, his hurt body finally deciding it wanted a break, but he had still been able to convince Heero that he was alright. And Heero just held onto his lover, letting Duo lean on him as much as he needed.

Just as the drop-zone came into view, the sky finally opened up and let the rain fall yet again. But Duo and Heero didn't care. Because the shuttle was already there waiting for them, and they could finally go home.

"We made it!" cheered Duo as he pulled Heero towards the shuttle, all his fatigues temporarily forgotten.

Heero grinned, hurrying to keep up with his lover as they ran through the rain to the middle of the large clearing.

"What took you guys so long?" joked the pilot of the shuttle—one of the agents on their team.

"Oh, the usual," replied Duo as he and Heero situated themselves in the two passenger seats.

Once the pilot had gone to start up the aircraft, Heero turned to Duo. "Duo are you sure you're okay?" he asked, just before the shuttle's engines came to life and it lifted into the sky.

Duo nodded, suddenly too weary to speak. He rested his head on Heero's shoulder, closing his tired violet eyes. Heero closed his eyes too, leaning against Duo. The both of them were asleep in minutes, lost to restful oblivion the entire flight back to Preventers HQ.

so they finally made it... yay.

and isnt heero so sweet, trying to cheer duo up? :3

well, until tomorrow!

-Shinigami out.