(AN: Sorry for the chapter mix up earlier, and thanks for to the folks who smacked me in the back of the head to let me know I goofed! Rode too many rides at Disneyland yesterday, scrambled my noggin.)
Part One
Chang Wufei followed Howard through the Lennon's maze of hallways toward the medical bay. Duo was lying limp in his arms, unconscious from his fall from Snow White's cockpit. As he looked down at the broken pilot resting against his chest blood from the punch to the nose that he received from Maxwell dripped down to land against the other pilot's uniformed chest.
Duo had managed to knock his head back pretty hard when he had punched him in the nose. Wufei had never gone toe to toe with Duo before, but he knew he was capable of holding his own. Anyone who could handle Yuy as long as the American had would have to be formidable. He just hadn't expected him to turn on him like he had. The blow to the face had stunned Wufei, and he had found himself frozen in place with shock as Heero Yuy kicked his partner out of the cockpit. Duo had vanished over the side of the catwalk and Wufei had no chance to evaluate the situation before Heero came running across the catwalk to attack him.
He had caught Heero's foot as it flew at him in a sweeping roundhouse kick. He had attempted to twist it to throw the former Wing pilot off balance, but his attacker had managed to regain his footing and continued to lunge at him with a flurry of kicks and fisted blows.
Wufei had been trained from a very young age in Wushu*. He had even bested Meilan, his betrothed wife, when she was considered to be the fiercest warrior on A0206 in L5 at the time**. Despite his advanced training holding Heero at bay had proven more of a challenge than he would have liked to admit.
The Japanese man was fierce and well trained in a variety of fighting styles. From what Wufei could gather most of Heero's attacks were raw military style hand-to-hand combat***, which meant it was best to keep him at a distance. The thing that had made fighting against Heero unique was that he didn't tire at a normal rate. The amount of power and energy behind the combination attacks he had performed would have exhausted a normal attacker. It would be within that window of fatigue that Wufei would have planned to strike.
He had danced down the staircase backwards as Heero had tossed relentless attacks at him. Wufei managed to avoid his strikes and parry those that came within range just long enough to make it to the hangar floor. As he had backed away from the catwalk Heero tried to run past him, evidently realizing that he couldn't subdue the Chinese pilot. Wufei wasn't going to allow his escape. He had grabbed a large wrench that had fallen off of a bench nearby and beaned him in the center of the back with it. Heero had fallen flat on his face from the projectile strike.
Professor G and Dr. J had tied the unconscious Heero up and had carted him away, leaving him with Howard to collect Duo and assess his damages.
Wufei sniffed the leaking blood back up into his nose and looked down at Duo again as he carried him. The former Deathscythe pilot's head was tilted against his shoulder and though he appeared to be knocked out his expression appeared pained.
He was no problem to carry. To Wufei's surprise the American was much more lithe and slender than he seemed. He knew for a fact that Duo had been sickly and extremely underweight a year ago while living on X-18999. He had assisted Duo in his transformation over the past twelve months and had assumed that all of the bulk that the other pilot had put on in that time would have made him weigh more than he actually did. Wufei considered Duo his closest friend. Despite that fact he had never been this close to Duo before. He had never stopped to consider the differences between their physiology. The American was petite, much smaller than the average male was. He felt hollow, as if his bones were that of a bird.
Wufei knew that size mattered very little when it came to the heart of combat. One thing that his time studying Wushu had taught him was that one should never judge others by their appearances, and that sometimes the smallest warriors possessed the most concentrated willpower.
"Just lay him down over there. We'll have the ship's automated surgeon assess him," Howard said as they stepped through the threshold to the ship's medical bay. Wufei nodded and carefully set the former Deathscythe pilot onto the nearest stainless steel table. Howard had rushed to the head of the table to boot up the computer. Wufei pulled his arms carefully out from beneath Duo's flaccid torso and began gently arranging his arms and legs. As he did Wufei saw the other pilot's eyebrows gathering together as his face tightened in pain. He reached a hand over to touch his forehead and felt that his skin was cold and slightly clammy.
He didn't say anything. There was no reason to. He couldn't bring himself to utter false words of comfort to his friend, because he didn't know the truth of his condition.
Duo had landed on his back against a plait of cables approximately three inches thick. Wufei had overheard Professor G whispering something to Dr. J as they left the hangar. Something about spinal damage. The old man seemed concerned, which was strange for him, because he never seemed to care one way for the other about Maxwell or his well being.
Wufei stepped away from the table and watched as Howard activated the ship's automated triage program. A long arm with yellow glowing probes slid forth from a hatch over Duo's unconscious form and began silently scanning him from head to toe. Howard was watching the process through a monitor at the head of the table. His expression wasn't reassuring.
"I'm dying, right?"
Wufei jumped at the sound of Duo's voice from the table. He looked down to see Maxwell's wide, reflective eyes staring up at him. Wufei immediately noticed that the normally white sclera of his right eye was blood red. The corner of his mouth was turned up into a smile, but the rest of his face betrayed the forced expression. He was clearly in pain.
"Not yet," Wufei replied plainly.
"What happened to your face?" Duo asked weakly, his smile remained firmly cemented to his face.
"You did," he said.
"Oh, damn. I do good work." Duo tried to chuckle but then winced and turned away to stare up at the probing robotic arm as it dropped down to scan his eyes. "Sorry… about that," Duo added in a hoarse voice.
"It's fine." Wufei replied.
"Is Heero okay?" Duo's voice wavered slightly as he spoke the former Wing pilot's name. Wufei felt the muscles in his own arms and legs tense in response.
"You don't need to worry about him right now," Wufei grumbled, feeling annoyed that the other pilot was even showing concern for someone who had hurt him.
"Fei, are my feet moving?"
"What?" Wufei blinked and leaned in closer. Duo was avoiding looking at him. He had turned his head away and was staring at some secret object across the medical bay.
"My feet. They're moving, right?"
Wufei turned to look to the far end of the table where Duo's immobile feet were lying against the tabletop.
"No… " Wufei answered him honestly. The American frowned and closed his eyes tightly.
"Shit." Duo whispered. Wufei felt the tension in his arms and legs double. He felt a heaviness gathering in the center of his chest that he hadn't felt since the Eve War. He needed to let the tension out before it began to eat away at him. He turned and quietly evacuated the medical bay and stalked quietly back to the docking hangar. He found Dr. J and Professor G standing in a storage room beside Heero. The former Wing pilot had been tied with extra cables and straps to a chair. Dr. J was standing over Heero's bound figure while Professor G was working diligently at a computer console, his eyes narrowed and his expression confused.
Heero looked up and glared at him as he entered the room. The expression only fueled Wufei's festering rage. Within seconds he was in the Japanese man's face. He had grabbed the front of his Ouroboros uniform and had lifted him and the chair he was bound to off of the ground. Heero didn't even blink at him.
"How dare you…" Wufei snarled into the other pilot's face. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Heero's icy, flat expression didn't change. He didn't reply.
"Don't you even care? I thought you two were close. He doesn't deserve this. You don't deserve him," he hissed as he lifted Heero and the chair a couple more inches. Heero's eyes narrowed in response but there was still no reply. His silence only triggered Wufei further and with an angry heave he tossed the other pilot across the room, chair and all. The tied Japanese man slammed hard into the floor onto his side.
Dr. J was blathering on beside him in protest, but he couldn't seem to make out his words through the irate storm occluding his thoughts.
"Hey you! Perpetually angry Chinese guy, he can't remember a thing. He doesn't know who the hell you are. He doesn't even know who Duo is." Professor G yelled gruffly from behind him. Wufei turned to look at him as his words seeped through the angry fog in his head and landed on his brain.
"What did you say?"
"I said he doesn't remember a thing. He doesn't know me, or you, or anyone from Operation Meteor. He seems to only remember Jay."
Wufei huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "That doesn't make any sense. How?"
"The nanomachines. He had just installed ARMISTICE into Snow White and his A.I. Aurora directed the machines to attack him. I still don't know why. It was an accident," Dr. J was explaining as he tried to pull Heero and his chair upright. Wufei sighed and reluctantly helped him. He grabbed the back of the chair and pulled it roughly to an upright position. Heero was staring up at him with the coldest expression Wufei had ever seen.
"You're lucky I'm bound right now," Heero said darkly. Wufei rolled his eyes and ignored him.
"So he lost everything? Are you trying to tell me… wait a minute," he leaned down into Heero's face and locked eyes with him. "What year is it?"
Heero didn't reply. Wufei frowned.
"It's AC 200." He informed him. He watched as Heero blinked and looked to Dr. J as if for confirmation. The old doctor nodded slowly to verify the fact, leaving the former Wing pilot looking thoroughly perplexed.
"What do you remember?" Dr. J asked gently.
Heero's face was unreadable. "I had just descended to the planet Earth for the beginning of my mission. I encountered an OZ squad in the atmosphere and engaged them. They immobilized my suit. I evacuated, and had managed to make it to shore. There was a girl. She… saw my face…" Wufei watched as Heero struggled to recollect his memories. It was painfully obvious that he didn't have much to draw from. "The year is After Colony 195."
"He's lost five years," Wufei said slowly as he shook his head. "Why? Why five? Why didn't it just kill him?"
"I don't know," Professor G said, his voice clearly perplexed.
Wufei sighed heavily and reached up to rub the knot of tension that had formed in the center of his forehead. "Can you fix this?"
"We will see," Dr. J said softly as he focused his robotic lens eyes on Heero.
Part Two
It had taken six days for the swelling from his spinal injuries to decrease enough for the scientists to surgically install a neuroprosthetic brain-spine interface*^ into Duo's body. At first he was opposed to the crazy scientists meddling with his insides, but eventually he had given his permission. He didn't have any other choice. It was either let them try it, or spend the rest of his life without the use of his legs.
The surgery had taken nearly twelve hours to perform. When he woke he was sick, weak and still couldn't feel or move his legs. After three hours he could feel Dr. J's cold claw against his toes. After six hours he could move those toes, and by the following day he could walk with assistance. It had been three days after the successful surgery and he was able to walk around without any assistive devices. He wasn't one hundred percent but he was alive and walking. He knew he had a lot to be grateful for.
Quatre and Trowa had arrived on the Lennon right after his surgery to replace their previous team in the event that new missions came up. They had gone out on the Zàn at least once that Duo was aware of to stage an intervention on a colony without the use of Snow White, which was out of commission until they could undo the work Heero had done on the operating system.
Duo stared out of the Lennon's observation window from his seat on a white, plush chair nearby. He gathered his legs to cross under him and began rolling the tip of his braid between his forefinger and thumb as he thought.
He wasn't allowed to go down to the docking hangar, or to enter any of the labs attached to it. Not having anything to do was killing him. He had seen everyone except Heero periodically throughout his recovery time. Wufei was around more than anyone, but he hardly said anything.
Despite the visitors, he felt alone. Alone in all of it.
Trowa had broken the news to him that Heero didn't know who he was. That he didn't know who any of them were. According to the old doctors Aurora had attacked him for some unknown reason. Nobody was telling him what was going on, what they were doing about it, or if it was even possible that Heero could get his memories back. He felt like he was spending every day groping around blindly, begging the others for answers that nobody was willing to give.
It bothered him that Heero didn't know him. It bothered him that he had kicked him, and that now he was going to have to live with the result of that attack for the rest of his life. He didn't blame him for it, he knew that he didn't mean it. Except… he had. At least the old Heero had. He knew he shouldn't be surprised. He had been one of the first people to encounter the unhinged Wing pilot on the planet, but it had been five years since that day, and he had forgotten just how ruthless and violent Heero Yuy had used to be.
"Duo, there you are. I've been looking all over for you," Quatre's kind voice spoke up from behind him. He saw the blond pad up to his side from the corner of his vision.
"Hey, yeah sorry, I just needed to get out of my room for a little, ya know?" Duo explained as he stared out at the dark masses of asteroids floating beyond the Lennon's observation pane.
"You don't have to explain," Quatre said gently as he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed him reassuringly. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, sure." he lied. He turned to smile at him before patting the tops of his knees with his palms. "Can't be too upset about having working legs, right? Not that this means you can drag me to any more of those marathon runs of yours…"
Quatre's light, ringing laugh made Duo feel a little better.
"They're not that bad, you just have to train for them. I bet you'd be really good at it if you just practiced," the former Sandrock pilot said with a bright smile. Duo shook his head and groaned.
"No way. You guys are nuts. Who gives themselves blisters and sprained ankles for fun?" Duo said sourly. Quatre laughed again, and with his laugh some more weight that had been settling on Duo's shoulders lifted. "So what are you guys up to? Any new missions?"
Quatre shook his head and slipped into the chair beside him. His light blue eyes were cast thoughtfully out over the asteroid field surrounding the ship.
"No, thank goodness. It was difficult working without a mobile suit to get into the thick of it. Howard and Trowa are having trouble uninstalling ARMISTICE from the Gundam. He doesn't know why. Now they're thinking about removing the entire computer system and replacing it entirely. That kind of a job could take over a week," the blonde explained candidly.
"Jeez." Duo muttered. He began rolling his braid through his fingers again, this time feeling anxious. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, not really. It's probably best that you-"
"Stay away from the hangar. Yeah-yeah, I know…" Duo interrupted sullenly. Quatre frowned and watched him for a long moment.
"I know this has to be hard."
"Nothing is hard. I'm fine. Seriously," Duo replied, avoiding eye contact as much as he could. He knew Quatre wouldn't believe him. The other young man had a strange way of knowing just what you were feeling or thinking^^, sometimes before you even realized your own emotions.
"He still doesn't remember any of us," Quatre confided quietly, apparently realizing that Duo was desperate to know what was going on with his partner. "He only remembers seeing Relena on a beach. He has finally calmed down a bit and has been doing nothing but working day and night on whatever task Dr. J sets him out on. They're keeping him away from the Gundam, but in some storage area attached to it. I have only seen him a handful of times… I had forgotten what he used to be like."
Duo felt his throat tighten at the thought of Heero having lost everything.
Sure, he had lost his ability to walk for a time. And he may have lost his boyfriend, but Heero had lost the freedom to be human. He had lost the humanity he had grown so comfortable wearing for the past five years. All of that progress and life that he had lived had been wiped out. Duo had been mourning the loss of his lover, but the reality was he was more disturbed that Heero had lost himself. He couldn't bring himself to reply. He tugged at his own hair roughly to try and turn his focus to something other than the depressing topic that had wheedled its way into the conversation.
"I'm sorry," Quatre said automatically at the sight of his discomfort. Duo shook his head quickly and sniffed.
"Don't be. You've done nothing wrong. I'm gonna go… uh… train for a marathon," he said as he pushed himself to a wobbly stand.
"Want me to come too? Do you need any help?" Quatre had begun to stand up to follow him but Duo cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Nah, I am just gonna try to run a little. Get my reflexes back. Muscle memory and all that jazz," he explained it away quickly before shuffling down the hall and toward the nearest workout room. The Lennon had been equipped with three separate gym facilities. One was filled with weights, the other cardio equipment and the last had an endless pool^^^ that he had used once before he was injured. He decided he would forego running and potentially busting his ass on the treadmill and try strengthening his legs and neural connections with his muscles by swimming. He had changed into a navy blue swim jammer ^^* and slipped into the still water of the specialized pool. The salt water was heated and comfortably warm. He let himself float up onto his back and reveled in the delicious weightlessness that enveloped him. He could hear his own heartbeat thumping loudly in his ears.
The smell of salt in the air reminded him of the last time he had been to the beach with Hilde over a year before and how he had spent this entire vacation in California with her fussing and worrying about Heero. He was reminded of how hurt he had been when he and the other pilot had separated and stopped talking when he had left Preventer. It was the same hurt he was feeling now.
His eyes began to sting, but not from the chemicals in the pool. He took a deep, shaken breath and tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind but they wouldn't budge. He had put this off for too long. The tension against the weight he had forced upon his negativity began to break and soon the Pandora's Box that held his hidden emotions burst open and to reveal the darkness he had been hiding from for the past week. Hot, burning tears began to stream down the sides of his upturned face and the echo of a choked sob bounced back from the ceiling above him.
He had fought for many things in his life, but he had cherished none as much as the hard-won relationship he had once had with Heero.
* Wushu:The earliest term for 'martial arts' can be found in the Han History (206BC-23AD) was "military fighting techniques" (兵技巧; bing jiqiao). During the Song period (c.960) the name changed to "martial arts" (武艺; wuyi). In 1928 the name was changed to "national arts" (国术; guoshu) when the National Martial Arts Academy was established in Nanjing. The term reverted to wushu under the People's Republic of China during the early 1950s. - Wikipedia
** Frozen Teardrop and Operation Zero Manga: Meilan was the best martial artist on their colony, and she considered Wufei to be weak. He bested her in a duel to prove to her he was just as strong as she was and to try and win her respect.
*** Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H) is a lethal or nonlethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range (grappling distance) that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons. - Google definition.
*^ The brain-spine interface bridges the spinal cord injury, in real-time and wirelessly. The neuroprosthetic system decodes spiking activity from the brain's motor cortex and then relays this information to a system of electrodes located over the surface of the lumbar spinal cord, below the injury. Electrical stimulation of a few volts, delivered at precise locations in the spinal cord, modulates distinct networks of neurons that can activate specific muscles in the legs. - .eu/neuroprosthetics-primates-regain-control-of-paralyzed-limb/
^^ Quatre displayed an ability in the show referred to as his "Space Heart" that was suggested to be a form of limited telepathy or empathy- possibly a Newtype ability. - Gundam Wikia
^^^ Rectangular lap pool that uses continuous flow of water to simulate a large pool. Requires little space and no need to turn around and switch direction. 7' x 12' to 10' x 16' swimming area-
^^* The style of men's competition swimsuits is called a jammer. Super tight swim material that covers from just below the waist to above the knee.
