Author's Note: Sorry this one took so long. I've been busy with school. My standard disclaimer applies. There's also some strong language. Enjoy.
~ Final Interlude ~
Trowa's story was interrupted by a horrible screaming coming from upstairs.
Duo was lying on his bed, clutching his side and coughing. There was a horrible taste in his throat; it felt like he had swallowed a wad of pennies, and they were now halfway to being regurgitated in a burning, liquid form. The screaming had left his throat and now there was only blood to fill it. Blood filled his wound as well, soaking down into his bed sheets and dripping on the carpet with a rhythmic spattering sound. Duo saw large, dark shapes moving in front of the light in his eyes, but he could not identify them.
Quatre ran into Duo's room, the source of the screaming, and was initially shocked by the sheer amount of blood. It seemed impossible that one person could have so much liquid in him. It coated the bed, soaked the rug, and sprayed in a radial pattern on the far wall. He was surprised by the smell of blood too; it was not like any natural odor. It smelled like fumes from a steel mill. It was an acrid, metallurgic scent.
Duo saw one of the shapes rush past him quickly, toward the light coming from his bathroom. He heard Quatre vomiting. He felt sorry for the little guy. Quatre had been through a lot during the war, but it had never been this close, or this personal. Before it was all cold, calculated, mobile suit battles. But now, just when everyone was settling back into a complacent time of peace, something like this had to happen. Duo gripped his free hand into a fist and loosed a chain of curses in his head.
Heero felt a strange sense return to him, a kind of thirst or fire that inspired heightened awareness and energy to well up inside him. The taste of blood in the air, infecting the water in his eyes and receptors on his tongue, was driving him mad. He felt as though he had just awoken to the symptoms of a man deep in drug withdrawal. The back of his hands and neck itched.
Heero regarded the scene for a few silent moments, then walked over to the bedside. He tore away some of the sheets that had been soaked through with blood. Heero applied pressure to the wound in Duo's side with his bare hands. He then turned to Trowa.
"Get the black bag from the top shelf in my closet. It has some of my medical supplies." He thought for a moment, then added, "And wake up Wufei, too."
"That won't be necessary," the Chinese pilot said groggily. He was standing in the doorway, half-awake and wearing a white, silk nightgown. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his neck back and forward with a few light pops.
Trowa returned quickly with the bag. Heero opened it and pulled out several jars. They contained scalpels bathed in green, liquid disinfectant. He continued to empty the bag, bringing out a parade of bandages, sutures, an array of powerful pharmaceuticals, and even IV and colostomy bags.
Heero placed two towels around Duo's wound and used a third to wipe away the blood. He looked at the flickering bulb hanging over the room disdainfully.
"I need more light."
Wufei, in an unexpected moment of creativity, carried in the teak dresser from his room. A Buddhist shrine rested on top of it. There was already some incense burning in it, and he took a Zippo lighter from Duo's bedside table and lit a series of tea lights and a butter lamp at the center of the shrine. It smelled horrible, but it lit up the room quite effectively.
A powerful orange glow overtook Duo's vision. After a moment of complete blindness, he could now see better than he had since he had been shot. His first sight was an unnerving one. Heero's hands, in latex gloves, holding a pair of extremely sharp implements.
"Hey buddy," Duo said nervously, "what are you planning on doing with those?"
Heero ignored him. After wiping the wound clean a second time, Heero proceeded to make the first cut.
Duo let out an incredible, high-pitched shriek. He twisted around in the bed, yelling like a maddened banshee.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Duo screamed, almost delirious with pain. "You're supposed to give me anesthesia first, you asshole!"
"You'll pass out in a few seconds," Heero said calmly. Duo came up and angrily gripped the collar of Heero's shirt and pulled him close.
"You know, in all the time I've known you," Duo began fiercely, "you've never ceased to be one cold prick." He had just barely finished his sentence when his eyes rolled back in his head like slots, revealing milky, blank spaces. Duo dropped straight back into his bed like a tree falling in a forest, and his forceful landing caused the mattress springs to creak.
*****
"Ow!" Duo said, suddenly awakened by a burning pain in his side. 'What the hell was that?"
"Hyfrecator," Heero answered quickly, "it cauterizes the wound."
"You had a Hyfrecator in your little first aid kit?" Duo asked in surprise.
"No, it's actually a small welding flame for circuit panels on my Gundam."
"Hey, you didn't put any of Zero's spare parts in me while you were at it, right?" Duo smiled a bit. Heero looked up from his stitching work with a deadly serious glare.
"No."
"I was kidding," Duo said in exasperation. "That was a joke if you've ever heard one." Heero grumbled and finished stitching up the wound. Duo looked at his freshly sewed-up wound. The stitches weren't visible from his vantage point. They were covered by folds of skin. It just looked like he had grown a second bellybutton in his side overnight. He also noticed that he was numb from his actual bellybutton up to his neck. So Heero did give me some anesthesia, he thought. He saw the stoic pilot pack up his medical kit alone and head for the door.
"Hey, Heero!" Duo called. The young surgeon stopped in his tracks and turned his head slightly. Duo felt relieved and comforted seeing those intense, deep blue eyes. "Thanks for saving my life," Duo sputtered awkwardly.
"I didn't. Whoever shot you had pretty bad aim. He actually just hit the wall next to you. A ricocheting bullet fragment caught you. None of your organs were perforated, and your blood vessels were all left perfectly intact. You would've been fine anyway." Heero tossed Duo a small lump of metal. Duo caught the object sluggishly. He opened up his hand and stared at the source of all his pain.
"This? This little thing?" Duo said in disbelief. "It felt like fire from hell itself. It was awful."
"Do you have any idea who shot you?" Heero asked with genuine curiosity. Duo shook his head.
"It was too dark to see his face, but I didn't recognize his voice. He was tall, white, kinda skinny. Didn't look like he was military." Heero shrugged, then turned to leave. Duo stopped him once again. "Hey, I almost forgot. He wasn't here for me. He was looking for you, Heero."
Heero blinked. His face remained unchanged.
"Forget about it," Heero said in a rare, soothing voice. You'll be fine, and so will I."
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Duo said, sitting up suddenly. "I think he came in a mobile suit. It was a new model, and it looked really advanced. And it was even bigger than Zero."
"You were dreaming," Heero said confidently, "or you aren't remembering clearly. It's illegal to build mobile suit factories, remember? Besides, all the factories are gone, and with them, the last reserves of Gundanium and Neo-Titanium. There couldn't have been a mobile suit out there. It's impossible."
"Maybe this one was built before the war," Duo argued. "I saw it, I'm sure I did. It was right outside my window."
Heero scratched his head, then walked over and pulled back the venetian blind.
"Look, if the mobile suit was as large as you say, it wouldn't have any place to land. It would either hit a bunch of palm trees or the plow into this house. As you can see, it did neither. You were imagining it."
"I know what I saw," Duo said confidently.
"Get some rest, Duo." Heero pulled the blind back down and walked out of the room without another word.
End of Final Interlude
Author's Note: Up next is the main arc of this whole story, a lengthy fic entitled "Skeletons In the Closet." It may be awhile before it comes out in full, I'm back in school and am very busy these days.