3x4 yaoi fic. I don't own Gundam Wing or any of it's characters etc etc.

SAVED BY AN ANGEL

A mission gone wrong, a pilots worse fear. Quatre cursed himself silently as he shot randomly down an un-lit corridor, the thick smoke making it impossible for him to see who he was hitting. Sandrock was abandoned, it's main weapon destroyed, making it almost useless for attack.

And he'd lost sight of Trowa hours ago. He dreaded the thought of what could have happened to him. He shouldn't even have been there, it had been Quatre's solo mission, but the Latin pilot had insisted that he assisted the blonde. Quatre hadn't been able to resist his kind offer of help, despite dismissing it at first. After all, they did have an unbreakable bond that nothing, not even the war, could tear part. Or so Quatre hoped.

But now he regretted ever accepting his invitation of aid. His was massively overpowered, and weakening rapidly, the angry ache in his muscles screaming at him, though he refused to give up. His radio communicator suddenly crackled into life, the broken voice weakly calling Quatre's name. He jumped unnoticed into an abandoned cell and held the communicator to his ear.

"Trowa? What's wrong? Where are you?" He demanded, panicked, though relieved that his lover was still alive.

"It's useless, there's too many of them. You've got to get out of here before........"

Trowa's pain-filled voice was suddenly cut of by the sound of a huge explosion, ending the transmission altogether.

"Trowa? Trowa?!" Quatre cried desperately, before slamming the small radio against the wall in pure frustration and fear. He watched the broken pieces fall to the floor, surprised at his own anger. Stepping back into the very centre of the battle, he managed to avoid shooting bullets and blades, and ran. He didn't care if they couldn't complete the mission, he wasn't leaving without Trowa.

It was nearly impossible to see anything in the heavy atmosphere of the fight, but Quatre was determined, ignoring his superstitions, ignoring Trowa's pleas that echoed through his mind. He almost missed the motionless body of his love, lying painfully on his side in order to try and avoid getting in the way of a stray bullet. Quatre skidded to a halt and knelt beside him.

"Get up, Trowa! We've both got to make it out of here!" He begged, cradling the upper half of Trowa's body in his arms. The uni-banged boy simply looked up with tortured eyes and smiled.

"I'm as good as dead, Quatre, what's the point?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Ashiteru, Trowa. That's the point." Quatre replied stubbornly.

Trowa smirked affectionately as he began to loose consciousness. "I love you too."

Quatre cursed again as he passed out. He needed medical attention urgently, and Quatre was not going to let him die. Carefully, he picked Trowa up, trying to staunch the bleeding from several wounds across his arms, legs and stomach. Although the other pilot was quite a bit taller than him, he didn't weigh that much more, which Quatre mentally thanked as it made it a lot easier for him to run with Trowa's unconscious form in his arms.

Picturing the route he'd taken after leaving Sandrock in his mind, Quatre eventually located his Gundam, feeling a little safer once he and Trowa were inside the cockpit. Trowa slowly opened his eyes as he was gently placed in Sandrock's control seat, gradually taking in his surroundings, the slight amnesia fading as he recalled what had happened and why he was there. He finally focussed on Quatre's concerned expression, staring at it dazedly.

"What happened?" Quatre asked again softly.

"Got shot....explosion...." Was all Trowa could manage to say, voice trembling, as was his entire body.

Quatre pulled out a medical kit and firstly looked for painkillers in the box of various first aid items. Deciding Trowa wouldn't be able to swallow two pain relief capsules, he injected the medication into him, noting Trowa didn't even flinch or react at all when the needle was inserted into his arm. A petrified look was forming on the taller pilots face, concerning Quatre.

"Trowa? It's ok, you're going into shock, that's all. You just have to stay awake, ok? I'm gonna get us out of here soon." Quatre reassured him.

Trowa just moaned quietly in discomfort. The blonde carefully pulled the top half of Trowa's space suit down to his waist, wincing as he saw the bullet wound through his upper abdomen, which was beginning bleed heavily. He acted fast, cleaning the wound, applying pressure to stop the flow of blood, and bandaging it, constantly talking to Trowa, trying to keep him awake.

"Quatre......." Trowa suddenly interjected. "It's going dark....." For the second time, he passed out, falling into Quatre's arms.

Quatre instantly checked his pulse and breathing. He was alive, barely. But his heartbeat was weak and he gasping in short breaths. Abandoning the deep cuts and slashes in Trowa's arms and legs, Quatre slammed instructions into the controls and headed back home, praying that his lover would live to see him at least once again.

.........................................

Trowa opened his eyes, groaning at the intrusion of light that flooded his vision. There was a dull pain in his stomach, and his limbs ached and felt bruised. The first thing he saw was Duo's ever smiling face, watching over him closely. Trowa tried to sit up, sending a sharp pain through him so he lay back onto the bed he'd found himself in.

"Hey!" Duo cried cheerfully. "Welcome back! Geez, you had us all petrified for a while there! We thought you weren't coming back! How ya feeling?"

Trowa smiled. Duo had a contagious effect that could make anyone feel better, despite the situation. "I ache, a lot. But I'll live. How long have I been unconscious?" He asked.

"Hmm.... about 24 hours." Duo replied thoughtfully. "You we're in pretty bad shape. Be grateful Quatre and Wufei have so much medical knowledge, they saved you man!"

"Where's Quatre?" Trowa looked around for his blonde lover. He spotted him curled up asleep in an arm chair in the corner of the room.

Duo grinned fondly at his friend. "He refused to leave sight of you since you got back. He wanted to be there when you woke up, but he was so exhausted, he couldn't stay awake. I though it would be fairer to let him rest."

Trowa nodded understandingly, smiling. "I don't remember much about the mission itself. One minute I was being blasted across a MS factory, then I was sitting in Sandrock, thinking that I was going to die....then I woke up here."

"Well you certainly gave the rest of us a shock!" Duo recalled. "Quatre came bursting through the door carrying you, both of you covered in blood, not even explaining to us what had happened! It was confusing to say the least!"

Quatre stirred from across the room, slowly sitting up and noticing that Trowa had finally awoken.

"Feeling any better?" Duo questioned.

"Just bruised." Quatre said amidst yawning. "And tired."

Duo stood up to leave. "Well, in that case, I'll leave you guys alone for a while."

"Thanks, Duo." Trowa called after him as he dissapeared out of the door.

"Don't thank me! Thank Quatre!" He called back. "Oh, and Wufei, but you can thank him later."

The blonde and the uni-banged pilots laughed. Quatre came over and sat on the end of Trowa's bed, being careful to avoid his legs. Suddenly his happy expression vanished.

"I'm so sorry, Trowa!" He burst out. "I never should have let you come with me on that mission! If anyone should be injured it should be me......."

He was silenced by Trowa pulling him towards him into a welcoming and warm kiss. Quatre wrapped his arms around Trowa's neck, again wary of his wounds. Finally, he pulled back, both of them gasping for air slightly.

"Listen to me, Quatre." Trowa gave him a serious expression. "I don't want you to blame yourself for what happened. I wanted to help you on that mission. You were not responsible for what happened to me. It was my miscalculations that got me hurt, not you. Got it?"

Quatre nodded slowly. "I just never want to loose you....."

"And I don't want to loose you either!" Trowa continued. "But we're Gundam Pilots. We continuously risk out lives for others, that's just what we do, and it's just the way it is. I don't like it any more than you do. I'd hate to loose you, it would be like losing my whole world. But we have to keep fighting, for the sake of others, regardless of our own feelings and emotions."

Quatre looked down, hiding his expression from Trowa's scrutinising gaze. "Then maybe I don't have the right to be a pilot. Maybe I feel so much for you that piloting becomes a dreaded fear of all that's important to me disappearing, or getting destroyed."

Trowa tilted Quatre's chin upwards so their eyes locked. "I love you, Quatre. Remember that always. Because we'll always be together, whether it's in this lifetime or the next."

The two lovers fell into each others arms, bonded by fear and love. But like they couldn't stop their destinies, they couldn't stop the new day arriving, signalling the start of another stage in the battle to keep their love together.

THE END