Chapter 9

Heero had never believed in a god, a higher power, had never prayed. But pray he did as they plummeted towards the crashing surf. He held on desperately to the hand in his tenuous grip and bringing his other arm down, wrapped it around his friend's torso. Gritting his teeth he prepared to stop their fall. *Please!* He begged.

The deafening wind roared in his ears, tore at his face, made it nearly impossible to breathe. His fingers felt as though they were clothed in cotton. He could barely feel the body in his arms.

Muscles straining, heart and head pounding Heero tried desperately to spread his lifeless wings. He felt Duo's arms clutch at his waist, felt his head bury into the crook of his shoulder. He clenched his jaw and steeled his resolve. No way was he going to lose everything now, not after everything he'd been through. Desperately he doubled his efforts.

*Onegai!!*

Suddenly he felt a jolt and their fall began to slow. Finally it halted altogether. Not even daring to breathe a sigh of relief, Heero turned his thoughts to trying to control the spasming of his muscles, unused to flight.

Slowly Duo raised his head, looked at his closed eyed savior and for the first time in his life, declined to comment and lowered his head once again.

Concentrating on his newly acquired skill, Heero turned for the edge of the cliff. His flight was unsteady, sometimes dropping ten feet before he caught himself. As for Duo, he was completely silent, face buried in the folds of Heero's soaked shirt. Trembling and exhausted Heero fought with his uncooperative appendages until finally he hovered above damp ground. Giving in to his fatigue he rolled in the air and dropped to the ground letting Duo land on top of him.

They lay there completely silent and shaking, not caring that the ground beneath them was wet, not caring that the rain was starting again with gentle insistance, or that they were in a rather compromising position that normally would have set both of them blushing and apologizing. Finally Duo raised his head to look at his rescuer. His violet eyes were still wide and dilated with fear and adrenaline.

"Heero?"

"Hn."

"Thanks."

"…."

~*~

"Itai!" Duo winced from his seat on the bed as Heero patted the last of his many scrapes with antiseptic.

"Hold still."

"It hurts!"

"Get over it."

"Hidoi! You're mean!" Duo stuck out his tongue at the Japanese boy who was looking at him with faintly amused cobalt eyes. Deft fingers unwrapped the bandaid and applied it quickly. Rising out of his crouch Heero moved to the bathroom to deposit his supplies.

"Oi! What about you?" Duo called into the bathroom. Heero returned and looked at him inscrutably. Moving closer he held out his arm for Duo to inspect one of the scratches. Duo looked up at him questioningly.

"Go ahead." He replied tersely, eyes colder than usual.

Duo scratched gently at the congealed blood and watched as perfect, unblemished skin appeared underneath. "Sugoi…" he breathed. "How long does it take for you to heal?" He asked his partner.

"Seconds." Was the short reply.

"Imagine…" He whispered. "All those days during missions it took for us to heal. If we could have done this…we could have won in a matter or weeks…this is amazing…" The arm was suddenly yanked from his grasp. Duo looked up at the other boy, violet eyes confused.

"It's not amazing. It's not a miracle. It's a curse!" Heero spat.

"How can you say that?" Duo said angrily.

Heero turned, fists clenched, back and wings taunt. "You couldn't understand."

"Try me!" Duo jumped up from the bed, ready to do verbal battle.

"You think you're alone? You're not. You've never been alone. I've never not been alone. I fought, and I waited knowing that once my battle was over I could be normal. Maybe then I wouldn't have to be alone. And then what happens? This! I'm a freak Duo. How could anyone love someone like me?" Heero turned and Duo almost gasped. He was beautiful. *Easily!* Duo thought. Blue eyes blazing, wings outstretched, he was breathtaking.

Suddenly his fierce countenance crumbled and he slumped, his face unreadable once again. "I'm tired of being alone." Then Heero turned and walked out of the room.

Duo sighed and buried his face in his hands. *What am I going to do?* Obviously Heero was distressed. *Well…who wouldn't be?* Duo admitted to himself. An idea gradually formed in his mind, slowly taking shape. *Hm…maybe….*

Notes: Gomen gomen! This chapter took so long because of some technical difficulties. My computer ate the first copy that I spent about two weeks on. The only chapter I deemed perfect in this entire fic. *cries* I couldn't bring myself to work on it for a while, I was too depressed because I couldn't get it as perfect as the first time, but it was taking too long. Maybe I'll revise this part sometime. Sorry it's so short. I wanted to get this chapter out as quickly as possible (which wasn't very quickly at all) . Thanks for your patience! ^_^