This chapter wasn't what I had planned but here you are! Enjoy!
Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya!
Chapter 13 : S.O.S
The helicopter whirled over the landscape as the crew looked over the area, searching for any sight of the plane. Sergei filled Bryan in on the details of the situation regarding Natalya and Bryan pitied Ivan but he also knew that Ivan would be in trouble for taking the helicopter up with an unsanctioned pilot but he really felt for the guy. How would he feel if it was his soul mate (when he finally found them) in danger? Bryan believed that many would break the rules to save them which was why he chose to pretend that he did not know that Sergei was not a member of the rescue crew. He just hoped he did not regret it.
They finished up the area without spotting anything that could be the plane and Ivan used the radio to report and to say they were going on to the next area. Sergei turned the helicopter and they continued with their search.
After a while, the passengers were reassured that the plane was not going to explode and the able-bodied began scavenging it for anything useful. Phones, it turned out, were useless as there was no signal so calling for help was out. More blankets were found and pillows were brought back along with any other first aid kits that were found and whatever food and water that was on board and still edible. Axes and flash lights were also procured and the life vests and the life raft for emergency ditch landings which had a flare pistol with it, were brought back to create palettes to put Yao and Captain Maurier on to get them off the ground. The man who had carried Yao out began bringing back parts of the plane with the help of the other able-bodied passengers to build a make-shift shelter as they did not know how long rescue would take and Yao and Captain Maurier needed to be out of the elements.
Yao still had not regained consciousness and Maurier had internal bleeding from where he impacted with the controls. Everyone did what they could to help and make their situation more comfortable with no one whining. The stewardess and the female passenger watched over Yao and Maurier while the others began tying parts of the plane to nearby trees and hoisting a large piece over the top to serve as a roof, should it start snowing. Li Xiao got a fire going to keep them warm which was made harder with his arm in a sling but easier with one of the passengers finding a lighter. Then he collected twigs and small branches that were lying nearby to feed the fire through the night while another male passenger took one of the axes over to a fallen tree and used it off the branches to create bigger logs that would last longer in the flames.
The sky was turning dark when they were finished and they all went into the shelter for the night. The food and water was rationed and everybody got a share. Maurier regained consciousness and the stewardess was able to get him to drink some water although he was in too much pain to eat. Yao remained unconscious and nothing Li Xiao could do would wake him up. The man who had carried Yao out of the plane wandered over to the boy sat beside his brother.
"Hey, kid," he said. "How are you doing?" Li Xiao looked up at the man.
"I'll do better if, like, Yao would wake up," he replied. Then he held up his hand to the man. "I never thanked you for, like, helping me get Yao out. I'm Li Xiao Wang." The man took Li Xiao's hand and shook it.
"Daniel Walters," he said. "Architect from New York, up here for the skiing. Never expected this, though."
"So that explains, like, our current accommodation," Li Xiao replied, looking round at their make-shift shelter and Daniel looked up at the piece of plane above their heads.
"Yeah," he said. "That and I sometimes do these weekend survival trips. You know, learning how to survive in the wild with what you can find. We don't know how long it will be until we're found and we're out in the snow. Now it's getting darker, any searches sent out for us will be called off until morning so we have to work with what we have. Nice job on the fire, by the way."
"Easy with, like, a lighter," Li Xiao replied, then muttered. "I wondered if Ivan's searching for us too."
"Ivan?" Daniel asked.
"My brother's soul mate," Li Xiao replied. "He's, like, on one of the rescue teams around here." Daniel was confused. When he had carried Yao from the plane, his ear had been up against Yao's left side and he had not heard a heartbeat.
"Is your brother's heart beating?" he asked. "I didn't hear it while carrying him."
"Yao's blind," Li Xiao replied. "He can't see Ivan's eyes so his heart won't beat but Ivan's did so we know they're soul mates." Daniel looked at the Chinese man lying on the upside down raft.
"Well, I hope he makes it," he said. Li Xiao took hold of Yao's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"He will!" he said, adamantly. "He has to."
"All search aircraft," came a message over the radio. "Return to your bases! The Canadian Air-force will be taking over the night time search. We'll begin again at daybreak." Ivan looked at the darkening sky but ignored both that and the order.
"Ivan," Sergei said when Ivan showed no sign of turning around. "We have to go back to the station."
"Nyet!"
"Ivan, I know you want to find them," Sergei told him. "Need to find them but it's going to be too dark to see soon and we're getting low on fuel. If we keep going, they won't just be looking for the plane in the morning, they'll be looking for us. You'll be of no use to Yao or Li Xiao if we crash as well." Ivan sighed. He knew Sergei was right but the idea of ….
"It's just the thought of them out here alone," he muttered. "And I'm unable to reach them ….."
"I know, moy drug," Sergei replied. "But the search isn't over. This helicopter can't operate at night but the air-force can and they'll be searching while we can't. It's not over, Ivan." Ivan continued to fly the helicopter for a moment. He wanted to be the one to find his soul mate, little brother and the other passengers but, in the dark, he could end up bring the helicopter down and endangering his own life and the lives of the people on board, helping no one. That was not just dangerous, it was selfish.
Ivan turned the helicopter back to the Rescue Station.
Searchlights moved across the over the snow and night covered landscape, looking for a sign of a crash landing, a down plane or, worse case scenario, wreckage. One air-force helicopter moved on from the area where contact was lost and began searching the next section. Fortunately, it was not snowing so the crew had hopes for the survival of any survivors but they needed to find them soon and they hoped that they had not wandered away from the crash site.
Li Xiao slept lightly, waking whenever there was a sound or a snort or snore from one of the others who managed to sleep and every time he woke, he checked on Yao who's condition had not changed. Gagnon was keeping an eye on Maurier who seemed to be getting worse. Li Xiao really wanted the captain to survive. After all. It was his and Gagnon's skill that had bought them this chance so the guy deserved a break but Li Xiao knew that life was not fair.
Someone cried out in their sleep and woke Li Xiao yet again and he checked Yao yet again but there was no change. It was then that Li Xiao heard the whomp, whomp, whomp! He left the shelter to see where the noise was coming from and there, in the distance, he could see a dark shape in the sky and a beam of light pointed at the ground, moving around.
Li Xiao rushed back into the shelter, over to the supplies and began rummaging through them until he found what he was looking for. He picked up a flash light and put it in his pocket, opened up the small case containing the flare gun, awkward with only one functioning arm, and took it out.
"Hey, kid," Gagnon said as he came up beside him. "What are you doing?"
"There's, like, an helicopter outside," Li Xiao replied, putting a flare cartridge into the barrel. "It has a search light so I think it's, like, looking for us." Gagnon took the flare gun from him and picked up another flash light.
"Show me!" he ordered. They went outside and Li Xiao pointed in the direction he had seen the helicopter. It had moved a little to the right but the searchlight was still searching so Gagnon pointed the flare gun into the air and fired.
The searchlight spun around the ground but showed only snow, rocks and trees. The co-pilot was looking down while the pilot flew the helicopter so he was the one who saw the flare as it flew into the sky.
"That's got to be them," he said as he turned the helicopter in the direction of the flare. Soon, they were flying over a clear area and the searchlight fell onto the wreckage of the plane.
"That's a mess," the co-pilot commented as he moved the light over the shattered plane that was missing its wings and tail and had left a gouge mark in the ground when it had crashed. "How did anyone survive that?"
"There must be survivors because someone must have fired that flare," the pilot replied. "Try aiming the light at the tree line, they may have taken shelter there." He shouted into the back. "You guys be ready. They probably need medical assistance!" The four airmen in the back, two of them medics, prepared for an emergency while the co-pilot got on the radio and reported the sighting while he shone the light across the tree line. Then he saw two lights coming from the ground to the left and aimed the light in that direction. Two figures could be seen, waving flash lights in their direction and the co-pilot got onto the radio again.
"Base, we've found them!"
Ivan paced the floor back at the Rescue Station while Sergei sipped cocoa. Bryan was sleeping in one of the cots in the bunk room used for when the crew were on these type of rescues and had to be out at first light. Ivan had not stopped since they came back. The helicopter was refuelled, checked over and ready to go, they were just waiting for the sun to come back up. HQ seemed to be still unaware that the helicopter had even been in the air, let alone with an uninsured pilot but when they found out, there would be hell to pay.
Sergei watched as Ivan paced a few more laps, put down his mug, stood up and stretched.
"I'm going to get my head down for a few hours," he said. "You should do the same. You're not going to be able to fly the helicopter if you're too tired so you should some sleep too. By the way, your father will be here tomorrow. I called him after Natalya's arrest and, I can tell you, he's not happy with your sister. I'm not looking forward to telling him she's my soul mate."
"I will leave Natalya to my father," Ivan replied. "We have grounds to have her committed now. It's just wrong that it took a plane crash to be able to do it. And how can I sleep with my soul mate and Mladshiy Brat missing in the snow."
"The same reason you brought the helicopter home," Sergei replied. "For their benefit. You're no good if you're too exhausted to function." Ivan knew Sergei was right but he also knew that he would be tossing and turning rather than actually sleeping so it seemed pointless to him to try.
"If you want," Sergei offered. "I'll be main pilot tomorrow while you and Bryan look out for the plane but you must at least try to get to get some sleep." Ivan sighed and nodded. Just as they were heading for the bunk room, the phone rang and Ivan answered.
"Hello," he greeted and listened to what was being said on the other end. Sergei watched Ivan face change to one of hope. "Thank you." He put the phone down.
"It looks like we won't be going back up," he said. "The plane's been found."
Another helicopter was sent out to help the crash victims but the first brought back Maurier, Yao, Li Xiao and the female passenger, the three most injured and the only woman. The second helicopter had arrived as they were taking off to ferry the remaining passengers. Maurier and Yao were put on brain scanners to monitor their brain function as neither one had a heartbeat.
But on the way to the hospital in Banff, something began to go wrong.
"We're losing one!"
"Breathing getting faint!"
"Brain function's dropping, charge the brain defibrillator!" The brain defibrillator worked in the same way as the heart defibrillator, discharging a split-second burst of electricity to kick-start a brain that had stopped functioning and the other medic prepared the emergency machine.
"He's flat-lined!" The other medic applied the electrodes to the temples and set the charge. The other medic took his hands away and the other operated the machine. There was a flicker on the brain scanner but then it flat-lined again. The machine was charged again and they continued to work as the helicopter raced to the hospital.
ANOTHER EVIL CLIFFHANGER! DX You should be used to those by now. ;) I know I said General Arlovsky and Matthew would be back in this chapter but the search and rescue got away from me so, with luck, they'll be back next week. I hope the brain defibrillator didn't sound too much like electro-shock therapy but a heart defibrillator won't work in this universe as some hearts aren't beating yet. I was going to have Ivan find them but I doubt they would make it through the night so I left it to the Canadian Air-force.
To Normandy – Yes, poor Yao! Matthew will be back next week, I will strive to make it happen! ;)
Next week should be the last chapter but I make no promises, I promise! XD
Hasta la Pasta!
