DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY, and I mean *ANY*, part of GW (;_;). I doubt these situations ever really happened, but this is MY fic, so ~nyeh~ . ~Ahem~ This is dedicated to Swallow-chan for bugging me to write... though I never got that "letter of encouragement" she promised -_-... See how nice I am?? Anyways, there's no YAOI in THIS part (but there WILL BE IN LATER PARTS! D) That's about it for now! HAPPY READING! ^^

p.s.: SEND ME FEEDBACKS! ::begs on hands and knees::





Complications of a Simple Mission



PART II: The Awakening





"Heero, what's wrong with you?" Duo asked, worried. Heero hadn't said a single word to him after the command to contact the others, not that that was anything new, the disturbing thing was Heero's posture: his shoulders slightly haunch-over, looking like he wants to curl up into a protective, fetal position.

"Just keep walking Duo," Heero said in a somewhat weak voice? "We don't have much time before this place blows..." Heero continued, never slowing their pace. That is, until now: all of a sudden, Heero's step faltered, causing him to stumble like a man intoxicated, but the problem was, Heero doesn't drink before missions, Heero doesn't drink period.

"Heero!" Duo cried out, forgetting their need to be quiet, and quickly moved to steady the Wing pilot by wrapping an arm around his waist. That was when he noticed Heero's labored breathing, and the frown that was already marring his boyish features deepened even more because not only did Heero not drink, he also never gets out of breath. Something's way wrong... Tightening his grip on the other boy, Duo quickened their pace and Heero followed, as best as he could at least.

Finally was all Heero could think about when they saw the light pouring through the exit from the outside world, just a few more steps and we'll make it.... But as they neared the exit, several explosions sounded simultaneously throughout the building, the force of it throwing them off their feet. Through all the commotion though, Duo managed to keep a loose hold on Heero's waist. Hoisting Heero to his feet, Duo tried to make a run for the exit.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Quatre paced the halls of the hospital restlessly.

"Koi, sit down..." Trowa repeated for the umpteenth time in the last hour. "They'll be fine."

"You think so?" Quatre asked (also for the umpteenth time in the last hour), turning large worried eyes on his boyfriend. Trowa sighed, wishing for the doctors to hurry up with the check up before the waiting drives Quatre insane, which will in turn drive himself insane.

"I'm sure of it, koi." and with that, Trowa kissed Quatre's forehead reassuringly as he reflected on what exactly had happened in the last 2 hours...

The three pilots had hoped, against all odds, that Duo and Heero wasn't in the building when they detonated the bombs inside the building. So they decided to scout the area after the fire died out some. The good news was that they found the two missing pilots, the bad news was that they had been inside the building when the place blew up...



[2 hours ago]

"Heero! Duo!" Quatre called again. They've been wandering around this damn lot of ruins for a good half hour already and still no sign of their missing friends. Quatre looked around again, aside from the voices of Trowa and Wufei echoing the same names with him, there were no human-made sound anywhere. 'Are we too late?' Quatre thought in despair. "Hee-!" He was going to called again, but the sob that tore from his throat choked his voice. Tears ran freely down his face.

"Quatre, please stop crying," Quatre recognized his Trowa's voice immediately and flung his arms around the Heavyarms pilot's neck, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shhh..." Trowa tried to calm the shaking Arabian in his arms. "We'll find them...shh..."

As if some kind spirit heard him and decided to help him keep his promise, Wufei all of a sudden shouted "I SEE THEM!" at the top of his lungs.

Those three blessed words immediately jerked Quatre out of his grief and he scrambled out of his love's embrace, rushing towards Wufei, Trowa hurrying behind him.

Maybe that wasn't a kind spirit after all, because when they finally reached Wufei, the sight of Heero and Duo made them stop dead in their tracks: Heero slumped over Duo, in a position that suggested to them that Heero tried to shield Duo with his body, taking the blunt of the blast, both bodies covered with countless wounds, many of which were still generously pouring out blood. What happened afterwards was a blur as they frantically got their two injured friends to a nearby hospital. Duo had regained some form of consciousness for a few minutes, mumbling about 'Heero' and 'pain,' and then promptly passed out. Heero, on the other hand, had remained still... unnaturally and *deadly* still.



"Are you gentlemen with Duo Maxwell and Heero Yui?" a voice questioned, bringing Trowa out of his reverie.

"Yes, we are." Quatre replied quickly, then tried to clear his throat of the coarseness in his voice. "How are they? Are they alright?"

"Duo Maxwell is fine, we've removed the bullet from his arm and cleaned up his cuts, he's suffering a minor concussion, but he'll be fine with plenty of rest." the owner of the voice spoke again. Trowa assumed she was the doctor.

"How about Heero Yui?" Trowa asked.

"Mr. Yui..., well..." the doctor stammered, Trowa and Quatre frowned. "He'll be put in the ICU for about a week for observation."

"Why? What's wrong?" Quatre asked frantically.

"His injuries are more severe than Mr. Maxwell's. We found internal bleeding in several places, went in and fixed them, but...his blood pressure is still dropping and we can't find where there may be possible ruptures. There's nothing we can do until the x-rays we ordered come in." the doctor finished.

Trowa decided that he likes this lady, who has the sense to speak to them in terms that they would understand. "Can we seem them?"

"Mr. Maxwell, yes. Mr. Yui..." she trailed off.

"We understand. Can we just visit Duo right now?" Trowa squeezed Quatre's hand reassuringly.

"He's in room 304. I'll have to be going now. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask me, Mr...er.." the doctor blushed.

"Just call me Trowa," Trowa said, offering his hand.

"Veronica Assiel," the doctor smiled, shaking the offered hand.

Quatre felt a nudge on his arm that brought him out of his reverie enough to remember his manners. "Erm.. I'm Quatre!" the blonde Arabian added quickly, and as an after thought, shook the doctor's hand.

Dr. Assiel smiled in understanding, "You guys better go on ahead now before visiting hours are over." And with a polite nod of her head, she made her way past the two pilots.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

'Eh? Where the hell am I?' Duo wondered groggily as his world came into focus. A groan of pain leaked past his lips when he tried to move his head to look around. 'Oh, yeah... explosion, duh...' Even in this painful state, he still didn't forget to be sarcastic. He throat felt dry, and when he tried to talk... 'damn... I sound like sandpapers rubbing against each other.' Slowly but painfully, he was able to turn his head to a side. And coincidentally, it happened to be the side where the sofa was, atop of which was Trowa and Quatre, snuggled up to each other in restless sleep. Duo felt a soft smile tug on his lips, 'those two are so sweet.' Deciding not to disturb the two lovebirds, Duo turned to other side of the bed, expecting to see a Heero of some sort.

He blinked once, twice. 'Where's Heero?!' his mind finally screamed out when the realization that Heero isn't in the same room finally settled. Immediately, he tried to sit up, but the sudden movement made the room swirl and he flopped back onto the bed, the creak of the old bed springs as well as Duo's groan of pain and frustration finally woke up the two lovebirds.

"Duo!" both exclaimed simultaneously.

"How do you feel?"

"Are you alright?" came the two voices again, all at once. The clash of words, in addition to the sheer volume of the frantic voices, was enough to give Duo a headache.

"Turn down the volume, will ya?" Duo

"Eh... sorry Duo," Quatre said, softening his tone to something that's closer to a loud whisper.

"How do you feel?" Trowa asked again, but this time following his koi's example of lowering his voice.

"Like shit," came the simple reply. Quatre couldn't help but giggle at that, even Trowa smiled. At that moment, Wufei barged into the room, slamming the door open in his rush to get in.

'Dammit! These people have no consideration for the injured _!'

"Wufei!" Quatre exclaimed, forgetting to keep his voice down in his worry. Duo winced, but it went unnoticed by his three fellow pilots...

'Wait a sec, three...? Where's Heero?' came the thought again. He was about to voice his question when Trowa cut in.

"Weren't you supposed to stay with Heero until he woke up?"

"Is something wrong with Heero?" Quatre's tone of voice was laced with worry.

"Heero?" Duo gasped. The perfect soldier was hurt? Was hurt so bad that he couldn't fix it himself? A knot formed in his stomach when he saw the worried expressions of his friends.

"Duo! You're awake!"

"What's wrong with Heero?!" Quatre and Duo demanded at the same time. Quatre stared at Duo in surprise. Duo didn't seem to notice the stare, but he did somewhat regret shouting like that, because now his head felt like it was being pounded from the insides of his skull. He pushed the pain aside when Wufei began to speak.

"Heero was awake..." Wufei said reluctantly, glancing in Duo's direction.

The 'was' did not go unnoticed by Trowa, and luckily the hint to keep the situation from Duo didn't go unnoticed either. "Wufei, let's talk outside," Trowa said, heading for the door.

Unluckily for the both of them though, Duo also didn't miss the 'was' and the hint. "I'm not stupid, y'know," Duo hissed. "What's wrong with Heero?!"

Wufei looked uncomfortable, and that just made Quatre feel worst because Wufei NEVER felt uncomfortable, or at least Wufei never felt uncomfortable enough to not be able to hide it. "Wufei?" Quatre asked, frowning.

Wufei and Trowa looked at each other for a moment, then, almost reluctantly, Trowa gave a slight nod to Wufei. Wufei nodded back and cleared his throat. "Heero... like I said, *did* wake up."

"AND??" Duo was getting impatient, but it couldn't helped, especially when that feeling of dread gnawed at his stomach.

Wufei took a deep, shuddering breath,... and told them...



[flashback]

Wufei, finally tired of pacing around the room in the ICU, sat down in the chair beside the bed and continued to worry about its occupant.

"Heero, you need to pull through this," Wufei whispered. Maybe it was because of how pale and vulnerable and weak the Japanese looked, or maybe the numerous tubes and wires connected to him, or it could've even been the beeps of the medical instruments scattered generously about the room that unnerved him, but no matter the reasons, Wufei was scared... and he was scared of that feeling.

He was waiting for something to happen, *anything* to happen, wished for it so much that he started to imagine them. He first thought he heard Heero groan, but it was really his restlessness that cause the chair he sat on to groan. He then thought he saw the gentle rise and fall of Heero's chest stilled, but when he looked closely he saw that the Japanese was still breathing. Finally, he thought he saw Heero's eyelids flutter, and when he looked again Heero's eyelids *were* fluttering!

"Heero! Heero can you hear me??"

Heero's eyes finally stopped fluttering... and opened. "Wufei?" The name came out as a coarse, dry whisper. But before Wufei can say anything, Heero started coughing, body racking coughs. Wufei's eye's widened in fear, and then, some common sense managed to slip into his mind.

He dashed to the door calling for help, and when he was sure someone was coming he rushed back to Heero's side, only to find him unconscious again. The only difference was... there was blood, a lot of blood....



TBC