Chapter
7
Duo stared at the white ceiling,
wishing his stomach would stop hurting. Ever since he'd woken up from his
horrible nightmare, his stomach felt like some one was squeezing a clamp down
on it, and his mouth had the consistency of sandpaper. He glanced nervously at
Asuka, who was snoozing in a near by chair. He'd been allowed to get up out of
the hospital bed, once he'd been thoroughly checked over by the doctors,
however the sick feeling that just wouldn't go away persuaded his usually
stubborn self to remain in the bed.
Something's wrong…I can feel
it. I shouldn't have flipped out on Une like that. I should have just gone
along with the mission like Quatre did.
Asuka shifted in her sleep,
and muttered something softly under her breath.
But that's not you, is it
Duo? You always open your mouth before you speak, don't you? God! You are such
a baka! No wonder Heero couldn't stand to be with me! I never shut up, even
when I knew I should have! Now I really could have fucked things up…
As if on cue, the alarms
suddenly started going off loudly around him. The main power shut off and
everything began flashing red. Asuka screamed and jumped, falling out her chair
and landing hard on her butt.
"What's going on!" She hollered,
very frightened.
"I don't-"
"We have incoming, I repeat we
have incoming!" a voice came over the intercoms, "All hands to the R and D Room
immediately!"
Duo jumped out of the bed and
rushed to Asuka's side.
"It's the guys! Something's
wrong!" he exclaimed as he pulled her off the ground and out the door. The two
of them ran full speed down the hallways, along with many other officials that
were rushing to their stations. Duo's heart was in his throat the whole time.
Something was seriously wrong and he was almost afraid to find out what it was.
Finally they made it to the
control room where people were frantically buzzing around.
"What's going on, Une!" Duo
demanded once he found the tiny woman.
"We've got a serious problem,
Duo. Heero got attacked by several black EVA units while he was retrieving
Unit-01." Une said, not playing any games with the braided pilot this time.
"Black EVA units?!" Asuka
shrieked, suddenly feeling light headed.
God…Commander Ikari was
right…the mass EVA units…they evolved!
"What?! Heero got attacked!
Crap!" Duo cured angrily, glancing at Asuka who was looking very pale and
shaken, "Asuka?"
"I'm…fine." She assured him
softly. Shinji walked over and put his arm around her shoulder comfortingly,
knowing exactly what the girl was thinking. Even so, he chose to remain quiet
in this tense situation.
"…is Trowa…injured…I repeat,
Heero…severely injured!" Trowa's broken voice came over the staticy com system.
Lady Une reached over and grabbed the intercom microphone system.
"We need a medic team to the R
and D room now!"
"We're on it, Miss Une!" some
one replied.
"Attempting…return now. Please
advise," Trowa started again over the com system, "Heero…severely injured and
locked…Wing Gundam. Sandrock…almost non-functional, Quatre…injured as well.
Altron…functional. Heavyarms…need of repair. This…Trowa, over…out."
Duo leaned against the console
behind him and took in a ragged breath.
"I hope your happy, Une…" he
muttered. Lady Une turned her angry brown eyes on the Deathsycthe pilot.
"You think I like watching my entire
operation fall apart around me?" she snapped bitterly.
"You think I like the thought of
my best friend dying in his Gundam!" Duo shouted back. Before Une even had a
chance to retaliate Asuka pointed to the R and D room.
"Duo! The portal!" she exclaimed.
Duo spun on his heel and watched as the gigantic metal frame came to life, a
swirling mass of blues and greens appearing inside it. With a loud crash the
wounded Wing ZERO came falling through, being pushed from behind by a barely
standing Heavyarms, which was also pulling the huge trailer that contained EVA
unit-01.
"They got it?!" Lady Une
exclaimed, half surprised and half ecstatic.
"My God…" Asuka muttered upon
seeing that accursed unit.
"I never thought I'd see that
again…" Shinji chimed, swallowing the huge lump in his throat.
"I never wanted to see it
again…" Asuka added.
"Heero…Heero!" Duo cried out,
taking off out of the control room and down a flight of stairs at breakneck
speed. Pushing past officials and guards, paying no attention to their demands
for him to stop, Duo blasted through the doors of the R and D room, his heart
pounding in fear for his best friend. Trowa and Wufei had just come stumbling
out of their Gundams in a daze as Duo rushed by, grabbing Wing ZERO's tether
without so much as a greeting to his fellow pilots and tugging on it. The
tether went taught above his hand and began reeling him up to the Gundam's
cockpit.
Grabbing the burning hot metal
emergency release, Duo yanked back hard and was overjoyed when the cockpit door
hissed slowly open. He jumped up on it before it was even all the way open and
leaned in to the dark cockpit, finding a very beat up and barely breathing
Heero strapped haphazardly in to his seat. With shaking hands Duo unhooked his
belt and Heero came falling limply in to Duo's arms.
"Heero! Heero say something!
Come on wake up Heero!" Duo yelled, shaking Heero roughly. The Wing pilot
groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"D…Duo?" he muttered, a tiny bit
of blood trickling from his mouth. Duo had honestly never seen Heero in such
bad shape. He'd always thought as Heero as pretty indestructible, but some how…something
had really done him over this time.
"Geez…" Duo breathed with a tiny
grin, "Those EVA's really fucked you over bad, Heero."
"Yeah…they sure did…" Heero
agreed, struggling to sit up.
"Don't. You'll just hurt
yourself more." Duo ordered him, even though his voice was quavering with
worry. Heero looked like he was hanging on by just a thread, and even for 'The
Perfect Soldier', that wasn't much.
"I'm fine." Heero protested,
coughing violently.
"No, you're not…Heero what
happened out there?" Duo asked his friend, wishing the damn medics would hurry
up and get the lift up to the platform.
"I…" Heero trailed off, suddenly
becoming quiet.
"Heero?" Duo asked again,
looking at his friend. Heero's eyes rolled back in his head and his breathing
became ragged, "Heero! HEERO!"
A/N:
I know, I'm being evil again! But I'll probably have more up today considering
I'm home sick and can't go anywhere. Oh joy…oh rapture…so, keep checking back,
I should have a few more chapters up today! JA!