Chapter 3 - Survival

Warnings: Duo pain. I'm evil, forgive me. Um. . . Duo continues to be a potty mouth. ^_^ PG-13
in terms of pain and profanity, now.

* * *

Somehow, having your legs tangled in a belt and supporting most of your weight on your
shoulder, neck, and head doesn't feel right. With a groan, Duo came to in this uncomfortable
position.

It was comepletely dark for a few minutes while Duo struggled to free himself from the belt
one-handed; his left hand simply refused to move. Finally, with a quiet whirr, the emergency lights
clicked on, washing the cockpit in red light just in time to illuminate Duo's ungainly crash to the
floor - well, the wall. Slowly the braided boy sat up and assesed the situation.

Luckily, Heero had remained bluckled in, though he still hung limply. He seemed to have been
untouched by the crash. Duo couldn't hold back the sigh of relief upon seeing that. "Thought for
sure I'd killed ya," He grunted, standing.

The shift in position, however, sent pain shooting up his left arm. Sucking in his breath sharply to
keep from screaming, he looked down. An odd bluge stuck out, pushing the stained black
material, and Duo grimaced as he guessed what it was. "Damn," he hissed, pressing his fingers
against both pieces of the broken bone. "Hate to pull a Heero, but. . ." Duo clenched his teeth.
"One. . . two. . . three!" he pressed down, the bones snapped into place, and Duo screamed
bloody murder. The world darkened. . . taking huge gulps of air, Duo collapsed and remained
sitting, struggling with nausea. How did Heero set his own bone without blinking? It hurt like
f***ing HELL!

After a few minutes of near-blackout and murderous thoughts involving the Leos that had put
them in this position, Duo dragged himself to his feet, rubbing his temple to help relieve a
throbbing headache he'd developed. Realizing it was sticky, he drew away his fingers to reveal
blood. Duo groaned. The situation just kept looking better and better!

Picking a long, thin rod, he carefully wrapped it against his left arm, an indrawn breath marking
each time he touched a tender spot. Finally satisfied, he turned to Heero, who hung sideways off
the cockpit chair. Gently he undid the buckles holding him in the seat and lowered him to floor.
Heero's breathing had evened out, and for a moment his eyelids fluttered. Duo held his breath,
catching his lower lip in his teeth and watching intently. But the eyes remained closed, the
breathing slow and steady, and Heero Yuy didn't wake up. With a sigh crossed between relief and
disappointment, Duo left him be. If Heero woke up, Duo would have to explain where they were
and the absence of the Wing Zero, and he wasn't up for the biggest berating and beating of his life.
But with Heero asleep, he couldn't help with things like . . . well, opening the door.

Because the Deathscythe was resting on its side, reaching the door required some climbing.
Avoiding using his left arm, Duo lifted himself painstakingly until he could just reach the keypad if
he struggled. Punching in the code, the door hissed open, flooding the compartment with blinding
light. The God of Death squeezed his eyes shut against it, then blinked rapidly as he adjusted.

The landscape was blindingly bright. Dunes of sand were all that was visible, fading into the
horizon where they met stark blue skies. The sun beat down relentlessly, making the heat as
unbearable as the brightness. Duo just stared for a long moment, and the adrenaline he'd been
running on until then seemed to drain out of his feet.

"Daaaaaaaaaamn," he breathed, tipping over until he was leaning against the doorframe. "This is
*really* uncool!" Duo allowed his legs to fold under him until he was sitting on his haunches,
then, throwing a glance back at Heero, considered his options.

First and foremost came making sure the Deathscythe, Heero, and himself didn't fall into the
hands of OZ. The best way would be, of course, to just blow themselves up, but they had survived
this far - he wasn't about to just give up and die now.

On the other hand, the Deathscythe was pretty much totaled. Duo could easily have gone ahead
and blown it up - but there was one important feature he wanted. Every Gundam had a unit that
allowed tracking, but it was on a high frequency that was impossible for average signalers to find
except by accident. Quatre and Trowa could use that to locate the two boys - but they wouldn't
bother to look for it until he and Heero failed to radio in. Until Duo was sure Trowa and Quatre
had found Heero and himself, he didn't want to destroy his precious partner. Maybe they could
salvage him, anyway. It was worth a hope.

Meanwhile, he and Heero would have to leave, though, in case an emergency required
self-destruction. Examining the landscape led Duo to decide a camp about 3 or 4 dunes from the
Gundam would be appropriate. Having a plan helped Duo focus, and with a self-assuring nod,
braid-boy rose to his feet and retreated back into the cockpit to gather supplies.

* * *

140 miles away. . .

"Lieutenant!" One of the uncommisioned officers stepped into the control room of the OZ base
stiffly and saluted, recieving several salutes in reply. "Message from Aries Patrol in Sector 4-H!"

One man with a commanding presence and mask covering the eyes and nose of his face turned
and looked over his shoulder at the officer. "Oh? Relay the message."

"He says something within visibility fell to the ground from the sky at 1143 hours, sir! It was
mostly black, and did not appear natural."

Now seeming more interested, the Lieutenant turned. "Not natural?"

"He thinks it was manmade - either a piece of space junk or even. . ." the officer swallowed. "or
even a Gundam, sir. He couldn't say which, and he only saw the last part of its descent."

The Lieutenant rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If it was a Gundam, we'll be under attack shortly.
Increase the guard, but otherwise take no action. Being the aggressor will do us no good when it
comes to a Gundam pilot."

"Shouldn't we investigate, though?" the officer immediately cringed after asking, expecting a
remprimand for questioning command.

However, the Lieutenant didn't seem interested in berating him. "Perhaps. We'll send out a patrol
within the next few days in the case of no Gundam attacks." The masked man smiled slightly.
"Don't worry. We'll be ready."

* * *

Duo lifted Heero in his arms, his left arm screaming with pain as he did so. The boy had to fight to
keep back hot tears from his colbalt eyes. "Boys . . . don't . . . cry," he gritted out, then examined
the bundle in his arms that was Heero Yuy. Heero managed to look annoyed with the world even
in his comatose oblivion. "You nut," Duo voiced his thoughts. "You must hate everything." With
that, Duo climbed to the cockpit door and peered at the ground. It seemed so high now - it had
appeared so much shorter a distance when he had taken the supplies to his chosen campsite,
which was well-hidden from intruders of the general vicinity and as shaded from the sun as
possible. Screwing his eyes shut and preparing for the worst, Duo took the leap, hugging Heero
fiercely as though it would protect the unconcious boy even more.

When Duo came to, he realized that he was - well, duh - on the ground, and Heero was sprawled
across his stomach. With a grunt Duo pushed him off and sat up, waiting for the world to stop
spinning. As if to add to his problems, it was beginning to hurt to breathe. It had to be a cracked
rib. Damn. With a sigh of annoyance Duo stumbled to his feet and lifted Heero again, attempting
without much success to carry him to the campsite. Duo ended up half-dragging the unconscious
boy.

After what might as well have been an eternity, he reached the small site he'd picked. The dune it
was next to blocked the sun, making it signifigantly cooler, though Duo continued to sweat
buckets. Gently laying Heero down on the blanket in Heero's survival kit, he sat as comfortably as
possible and grabbed the small First Aid kit again. He leaned over the unconcious boy and
performed a "general wellness" check - Duo was pretty sure that was what the medic in the
Sweepers group had called it - and determined Heero had sustained no other signifigant injuries
than two cracked ribs. The guy was incredible, Duo thought with disgust. It was hardly fair. What
the hell had Dr. J *done* to Heero!?

Himself, on the other hand . . . Duo definitely had four cracked ribs, and one was close to a
fracture. He had broken several bones in both hands and his right foot, which helped explain why
carrying Heero had been so hard, and of course there was the complex fracture in his upper left
arm. Other than that, his most serious injuries were some deeper lacerations on his head and
other parts of his body, and numerous cuts, scratches, bruises, and the like. Luckily, his braid had
remained intact, but the blood was gonna be a pain in the ass to wash out. "Man, if those Leos
ruined my hair, I'll just hafta kill OZ for that alone," he growled jokingly as he carefully bandaged
himself up.

* * *

Halfway around the world. . .

Yet again Quatre glanced over to the dormant laptop from where he was sprawled over the
couch. Nothing. With a quiet sigh, the blonde tried to get back to his reading.

He knew that Duo wasn't supposed to link them until 5:00 am, but Duo wasn't one to follow
orders, and he was likely to call them early with the exciting details of the mission. The very fact
that the laptop hadn't suddenly popped up with an image of Duo worried Quatre. It wasn't like
Duo at all. Had both of them died? Were they having a harder time than expected and just still at
work?

"It'll work out."

Quatre jerked his head up to see Trowa standing in the doorway with his arms folded. His face
was its usual deadpan, but Quatre smiled. "Thanks, Trowa. But you'd think that Duo would have
linked us by now . . ."

Trowa's eyes darted to his watch, then back to Quatre. "It is unusual, but there's the possibility
that Heero restrained Duo, or even that Duo has decided to follow directions."

Quatre frowned over that, then nodded slowly. "I guess," he said slowly, then suddenly he looked
up. "I think you just used up a month's worth of words, Trowa-san!"

Trowa's eyes widened, his eyebrows arching delicately upwards, then he smiled a very tiny smile.
"I'm going to go find myself a book to read. Duo will link up soon enough."

* * *

"Damn, I wish I could link up Trowa and Quatre," sighed Duo. He shifted haltingly on the sand,
surveyed his surroundings, and once again looked down at Heero. "I wish you'd wake up."

Only two hours in the sun, and Duo was ready to call it quits and find any way possible to escape
the heat. It was really an effort to use the water supply sparingly, but he was afraid he'd already
drunk too much. On the plus side, Heero couldn't consume anything since he was still unconcious.
What a lovely day it was turning out to be.

With a grunt, Duo shifted yet again. Damn, the sand was hot! He was tempted to stand, but it was
so much effort . . . Nah, sitting was fine. He was able to see for miles in any direction anyway, and
his Gundam was easily in range.

After scanning the horizon and finding nothing for around the hundredth time, Duo sighed
heavily, fingered his gun, shifted, and looked at Heero. Part of Duo was jealous, he realized -
unable to feel the heat in unconsious oblivion, and free of pain or fatigue. The heat really sapped
your strength. "Life's so unfair, Heero," Duo informed the comatose pilot. "You're made of
something inhuman. I mean, you got rammed by a Leo and got away with a few broken bones.
Me, I get hit by a single blast and get nearly as bad as you."

Duo laughed quietly at himself; Heero probably couldn't hear him at all. "You know what, if
anyone survives this war, it's gonna be you. Are ya gonna know what to do with yourself when
the war is over? All you've ever done is train to fight." Duo grinned lopsidedly. "If this war ever
ends, man, I'm gonna find myself a pretty girl and never work again. Yeah, right.

"I hope you get someone pretty too, Heero. Pretty and nice, cuz Relena . . . eh, you could
definitely do better." Duo's eyes drooped lazily; it was hard to stay awake in such heat. Once
again he scanned the horizon, and once again he found nothing interesting. "Ah, we'll probably
just both sit here until we die or Trowa and Quatre find us. Wouldn't that be great? Being found,
I mean. We can't die yet; we gotta destroy OZ."

The one-sided conversation was becoming boring. Duo yawned and smacked his lips, wishing he
could drink more water, but knowing that would be a bad idea. Man, he wanted to sleep . . . NO!
He couldn't sleep, he had to make sure OZ didn't show up out of the blue. Duo clutched the
detonator again, purposely moving his left arm to make himself wake up. Pain struck him
heavily, shocking him back to wakefulness, but bringing waves of nausea with it. Duo struggled
with it for a moment, but the fight, the rough landing, and the sun had all taken their toll, and Duo
practically leapt to his knees to retch. He dry-heaved for nearly half a minute after emptying the
contents of his stomach, then slumped exhaustedly. "Shit." The aftertaste of throwing up stung his
mouth, and he wished for water all the more, but he forced the thoughts away. He had no idea
how long he'd be spending in the desert, and the water had to last.

Duo attempted to sit up, but even moving his arm was like catching the flu, and breathing hurt
like hell as his cracked ribs protested. Flopping to his stomach, Duo searched the horizon a final
time in a semblance of keeping watch, then succumbed to the exhaustion washing over him and
fell into fitful sleep.

* * *


A shorter chapter then usual, I believe, and I apologize for waxing philosophical, as Duo goes. I
needed something to fill out the chapter, as it's more or less a set-up for the next few chapters!

By now I have disappointed you yaoi fans. Yes, Duo wants to find a 'pretty girl'. However, I have
a side story planned that more or less investigates a relationship between Heero and Duo that is
still more than friendship. You'll see, when I get there. ::evil grin:: You'll have to wait! ^_^
* * *