bd Special Thanks ca
I want to send out a special thanks to my friends, Andi and Cheriva who encouraged me to write and post Mercy's Sacrifice. Also, to my faithful reviewers, especially you Wildfire's Flame, you let me know I have done my job in entertaining the readers and keep me writing. Here's your story guys/gals, you wanted more, here ya go. If you have any ideas, I wouldn't mind hearing about them. ^_^ *smiles*
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Gundam Wing. I do, however own the plot.
Prelude To Mercy's Sacrifice:
"Hey, where are we goin' Heero?" Duo folded his hands behind his head, leaning against the cold glass of the transport vehicle. They'd been on the road for at least an hour; they'd had to leave the safe house in a hurry as soon as they found out that Oz had finally found them. He was getting rather bored, considering that he'd just finished his twenty-third straight game of solitaire after he'd played Speed with Quatre and only won twelve out of twenty-eight games. When the American had proposed yet another, Quatre looked at him as if he were crazy, then had fallen asleep leaning against the back of the seat.
"There's another safe house hidden in the countryside about twenty more miles away." His usual monotone voice spoke as its owner kept his eyes on the snow covered road. To anyone that didn't know him, he would sound like his normal self, but Duo heard what the others probably had as well. Fatigue was finally settling in.
"Man, this is boring! Doesn't the radio work or something?" Looking over he was greeted with a warning glare by Wufei. "What?"
"Keep it down, Maxwell. Quatre's sleeping and your constant complaining is driving me crazy! Be considerate, I know you're capable of that if nothing else." Wufei glared at the young, but extremely talkative pilot.
Frowning and looking ashamed, Duo hung his head. "Sorry 'bout that. Hey, wanna try your luck against the master?" Talk about mood swings. Shuffling the deck with expertese, he gave the Chinese pilot a look that just dared him to refuse.
"Fine! Whatever, as long as you are shut up for at least five minutes, then I'll humor you." Throwing his hands in the air, Wufei turned around in his seat and took Duo's dare.
"Just keep it down this time Duo when he beats you." Trowa slightly smirked as he made the suggestion, allowing it to become even more visible as he heard Duo's disgusted, "uh!"
"Okay game o' poker, watcha say?" His hands worked skillfully over the cards. An impatient sigh was his only response. "Okay, here we go. Are you prepared to go down Wu-man?"
"I swear, if you call me that one more time Maxwell, I'll...." His threat was interrupted as the truck swerved to the left sharply, a loud sound booming in the cab. Wufei was thrown against the passenger side door, the steel handle jabbing into his back roughly. The truck came to an abrupt halt, but that only threw him harder still into the door, causing him to wince as a groan emmited from his throat.
Dou was thrown into the glass window behind him, his head smackig it hard. "What the he..." his swearing was cut midsentence as he caught sight of the window. It was cracked, the lines spreading across the glass like a spider's web. Looking around, he noticed his comrades feeling the pain of the hasty turn just as much, if not more than he had. Wufei was thrown against the door, grimacing in pain; Quatre was now awake, having been catapulted into the front seats; Trowa was recovering from his position on the hard, metal floor; and Heero was.... "Heero! C'mon man, you gotta talk to me! God, Heero!?" Heero lay slouched over the stearing wheel, eyes closed and unmoving. Though his light-headedness posed a small problem, Duo was up in a flash. He shook his friend, panicing as he called to Heero. "Heero, dang it, wake up! Heero!" The others had noticed what Duo was so freaked out about. "Damn it Heero, wake up!" It wasn't the fact that Heero wasn't threatening to kill him for touching him. No, what had him scared half to death was the fact that there was a bullet hole through the windshield, right where Heero would have been sitting.
Pain raced throughout the entire of his torso, the violent shaking of a pair of hands not helping him out at all. Hearing Duo's fractic voice, though it sounded so distant, he began to realize what had just occured. Letting out an extremely agonizing breath, Heero tried to call back to his friend, "....D-Dou? I....I'm fine, ju...just stop." Slowly pushing himself off of the wheel, he fell against the back of the seat, letting out a small and tired groan. The bullet had just missed him, hitting the metal in the back of the cab.
"Wh-what happened Heero?" Quatre, letting out a relieved sigh at knowing Heero was fine, asked the question he knew the others were thinking.
Oh no, he'd just put them in more trouble! Quickly grabbing his gun that had become like a second nature, he looked at the others. "Get down, now!" His usual monotone voice was disrupted be an protective urgacy.
"What the........holy crap!" Duo fell to the floor, covering his head as the glass shattered behind him. "Who the heck is that now?!?!"
"OZ doesn't like us taking the back roads it appears." Trowa had seen the soldiers exiting the forest, their weapons ready and aimed. Gun in his hand, he motioned for the others to do the same as Heero and himself. They were going to have to battle this one without the use of their gundams, for they were in space being upgraded as their pilots continued smaller missions on the Earth.
"Don't these guys ever quit?" Griping as he drew his gun, Duo sat on the floor beneath the window, knees drawn up to his chest. If he hating anything with a passion, it was this. Having to take lives of others.
"We kill or be killed, now c'mon," throwing open his door, Heero jumped out of the cab on the opposited side, taking advantage of the truck as a shield. "Hurry up," he called into the vehicle softly, hearing the advancing footsteps of the enemy. Wufei jumped out, followed by Trowa, then Quatre, and finally a fuming Duo. All Heero heard were the words, ".....ucking war, fu....".
Using the side mirror, Quatre caught sight of the troops himself. They were advancing on them, a large company of men. Cutting them off on the right flank, there was no way the pilots could escape to the forest under the cover of darkness and the protection of the thick clusters of trees. They couldn't stay by the truck, they'd be massacred for sure. Their safest bet was to take shelter behind a group of large boulders next to a vast, icy blue lake. "We can't stay here," all eyes turned to him imploringly. "They're trying to trap us, and it's working. They're advancing at us straight on, but they've also got a large group coming on our right side. They'll surround us, then either capture or kill us. We need to get to those boulders and fire until not a one is left standing. We won't have another escape route, so we need to keep them off of our flanks and stop them from circling around us."
His words were true and spoken with confidence. Their only chance was to listen to Quatre's stratigic plan and fight. They had no other choice, but Trowa only hoped that they could hold them off. OZ had come prepared, they had one hundred or so men out there at least! Looking at the others, he nodded, then took his position at the front of the truck, gun raised and poised. He would cover the others as they headed for safty, then he would chance it himself. Turning, he released fire with precise aim, not missing a one of his targets as they fell in the piling winter snows, Heero sprinting all the while to the rocks, followed by the young Arabian, then the Chinese warrior, then finally the talkative American. He had taken down twenty-five soldiers considering he only had twenty bullets in his cartridge. His friends hadn't had the chance to fire their weapons either. Quickly he reloaded, ducking as a bullet whizzed past his head, just barely missing him. The Oz soldiers were on his right flank, and they had perhaps the clearest shots at him that anyone could ever have. Momentarily caught off guard, Trowa looked at the soldiers in disbelief, shocked at how he had truly just cheated death. One centimeter lower and he'd have been dead on the ground.
"Trowa, get over here!!" Duo screamed as he joined the others in firing at the enemy. What the heck happened to him?!?! "Trowa!!! NOW!" Without a seconds hesitation, the young circus performer had spun around, sprinting on the icy ground for the boulders. Jumping behind them, he sat on the snowy ground, panting. "What the heck happened out there?!" Trowa, eyes surprisingly wide in utter shock, was breathing heavily.
"....I just cheated death."
"When don't we," he called back, taking down another five men as they threatened to come up on their flank.
"....no Duo, one little centimeter.....if that.....it made all the difference in the world." Rising, gun in hand once more, Trowa got up and began to fire along with his comrades.
They continued like this for at least an hour longer, exhaustion setting in as their aim began to wander. But the five teenagers pushed on, holding their own as they pushed the OZ soldiers back, slowly bringing down their numbers.
"We can't do this for much longer, we can't continue to hold them off on our own. We're too tired! " "We need to get out of here, now. They're closing in on our right and we can't hold them off with the little ammunition we have left."
"Then what do we do Quatre?" Wufei, his breathing increase, called over his shoulder as he fired yet again at a progressing line of soldiers.
"Concentrate your fire to the center of the line, it's the weakest area. Take down as many men as you can, then on my word, run into the woods, stopping for no one and nothing. We can hide in the shelter of the forest, take cover in its darkness. We try and get to the safe house on foot, we don't have time to worry about killing the rest of these guys. We don't have the......TROWA!" Not noticing that he was enemy had locked onto him, Trowa continued to fire at the approaching men. Quatre, without a second thought, shoved Trowa into the snow as the bullet hit the boulder where he'd been standing, reflected off of the rock as it fell into the freezing water.
Looking back at his weary friend, then at the place he was standing, he realized that he'd truly cheated death once again.
Eyes closed, Quatre lay on the snow, giving into its refreshing coolness. Trowa was still alive, his friends were fine, and he was exhausted; that's all he knew and really wanted to know. But his friends wouldn't be fine for long if they stayed there, they had to get away from the boulders. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the young man pick himself up off of the ground, looking at him with disbelief and amazement. Reluctantly pushing off of the ground, he hauled himself to his feet.
"You guys okay?" Heero called over his shoulder.
"I'm fine, Quatre?"
"Just fine, but we need to make a run for it now. Forget taking down the men, we need to....." he was cut off by a sudden explosion. The heat and energy from the explosive sent him flying backwards, into the water. It was like the ground had dropped off, a deep canyon beneath him in the bottom of the lake.
Not hearing the splash, the other four were thrown, but instantly got back up and started to fire with all their will, taking down soldier after soldier. Their lives would either be spared or end on this battlefield.
bd End of Prelude ca
I want to send out a special thanks to my friends, Andi and Cheriva who encouraged me to write and post Mercy's Sacrifice. Also, to my faithful reviewers, especially you Wildfire's Flame, you let me know I have done my job in entertaining the readers and keep me writing. Here's your story guys/gals, you wanted more, here ya go. If you have any ideas, I wouldn't mind hearing about them. ^_^ *smiles*
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Gundam Wing. I do, however own the plot.
Prelude To Mercy's Sacrifice:
"Hey, where are we goin' Heero?" Duo folded his hands behind his head, leaning against the cold glass of the transport vehicle. They'd been on the road for at least an hour; they'd had to leave the safe house in a hurry as soon as they found out that Oz had finally found them. He was getting rather bored, considering that he'd just finished his twenty-third straight game of solitaire after he'd played Speed with Quatre and only won twelve out of twenty-eight games. When the American had proposed yet another, Quatre looked at him as if he were crazy, then had fallen asleep leaning against the back of the seat.
"There's another safe house hidden in the countryside about twenty more miles away." His usual monotone voice spoke as its owner kept his eyes on the snow covered road. To anyone that didn't know him, he would sound like his normal self, but Duo heard what the others probably had as well. Fatigue was finally settling in.
"Man, this is boring! Doesn't the radio work or something?" Looking over he was greeted with a warning glare by Wufei. "What?"
"Keep it down, Maxwell. Quatre's sleeping and your constant complaining is driving me crazy! Be considerate, I know you're capable of that if nothing else." Wufei glared at the young, but extremely talkative pilot.
Frowning and looking ashamed, Duo hung his head. "Sorry 'bout that. Hey, wanna try your luck against the master?" Talk about mood swings. Shuffling the deck with expertese, he gave the Chinese pilot a look that just dared him to refuse.
"Fine! Whatever, as long as you are shut up for at least five minutes, then I'll humor you." Throwing his hands in the air, Wufei turned around in his seat and took Duo's dare.
"Just keep it down this time Duo when he beats you." Trowa slightly smirked as he made the suggestion, allowing it to become even more visible as he heard Duo's disgusted, "uh!"
"Okay game o' poker, watcha say?" His hands worked skillfully over the cards. An impatient sigh was his only response. "Okay, here we go. Are you prepared to go down Wu-man?"
"I swear, if you call me that one more time Maxwell, I'll...." His threat was interrupted as the truck swerved to the left sharply, a loud sound booming in the cab. Wufei was thrown against the passenger side door, the steel handle jabbing into his back roughly. The truck came to an abrupt halt, but that only threw him harder still into the door, causing him to wince as a groan emmited from his throat.
Dou was thrown into the glass window behind him, his head smackig it hard. "What the he..." his swearing was cut midsentence as he caught sight of the window. It was cracked, the lines spreading across the glass like a spider's web. Looking around, he noticed his comrades feeling the pain of the hasty turn just as much, if not more than he had. Wufei was thrown against the door, grimacing in pain; Quatre was now awake, having been catapulted into the front seats; Trowa was recovering from his position on the hard, metal floor; and Heero was.... "Heero! C'mon man, you gotta talk to me! God, Heero!?" Heero lay slouched over the stearing wheel, eyes closed and unmoving. Though his light-headedness posed a small problem, Duo was up in a flash. He shook his friend, panicing as he called to Heero. "Heero, dang it, wake up! Heero!" The others had noticed what Duo was so freaked out about. "Damn it Heero, wake up!" It wasn't the fact that Heero wasn't threatening to kill him for touching him. No, what had him scared half to death was the fact that there was a bullet hole through the windshield, right where Heero would have been sitting.
Pain raced throughout the entire of his torso, the violent shaking of a pair of hands not helping him out at all. Hearing Duo's fractic voice, though it sounded so distant, he began to realize what had just occured. Letting out an extremely agonizing breath, Heero tried to call back to his friend, "....D-Dou? I....I'm fine, ju...just stop." Slowly pushing himself off of the wheel, he fell against the back of the seat, letting out a small and tired groan. The bullet had just missed him, hitting the metal in the back of the cab.
"Wh-what happened Heero?" Quatre, letting out a relieved sigh at knowing Heero was fine, asked the question he knew the others were thinking.
Oh no, he'd just put them in more trouble! Quickly grabbing his gun that had become like a second nature, he looked at the others. "Get down, now!" His usual monotone voice was disrupted be an protective urgacy.
"What the........holy crap!" Duo fell to the floor, covering his head as the glass shattered behind him. "Who the heck is that now?!?!"
"OZ doesn't like us taking the back roads it appears." Trowa had seen the soldiers exiting the forest, their weapons ready and aimed. Gun in his hand, he motioned for the others to do the same as Heero and himself. They were going to have to battle this one without the use of their gundams, for they were in space being upgraded as their pilots continued smaller missions on the Earth.
"Don't these guys ever quit?" Griping as he drew his gun, Duo sat on the floor beneath the window, knees drawn up to his chest. If he hating anything with a passion, it was this. Having to take lives of others.
"We kill or be killed, now c'mon," throwing open his door, Heero jumped out of the cab on the opposited side, taking advantage of the truck as a shield. "Hurry up," he called into the vehicle softly, hearing the advancing footsteps of the enemy. Wufei jumped out, followed by Trowa, then Quatre, and finally a fuming Duo. All Heero heard were the words, ".....ucking war, fu....".
Using the side mirror, Quatre caught sight of the troops himself. They were advancing on them, a large company of men. Cutting them off on the right flank, there was no way the pilots could escape to the forest under the cover of darkness and the protection of the thick clusters of trees. They couldn't stay by the truck, they'd be massacred for sure. Their safest bet was to take shelter behind a group of large boulders next to a vast, icy blue lake. "We can't stay here," all eyes turned to him imploringly. "They're trying to trap us, and it's working. They're advancing at us straight on, but they've also got a large group coming on our right side. They'll surround us, then either capture or kill us. We need to get to those boulders and fire until not a one is left standing. We won't have another escape route, so we need to keep them off of our flanks and stop them from circling around us."
His words were true and spoken with confidence. Their only chance was to listen to Quatre's stratigic plan and fight. They had no other choice, but Trowa only hoped that they could hold them off. OZ had come prepared, they had one hundred or so men out there at least! Looking at the others, he nodded, then took his position at the front of the truck, gun raised and poised. He would cover the others as they headed for safty, then he would chance it himself. Turning, he released fire with precise aim, not missing a one of his targets as they fell in the piling winter snows, Heero sprinting all the while to the rocks, followed by the young Arabian, then the Chinese warrior, then finally the talkative American. He had taken down twenty-five soldiers considering he only had twenty bullets in his cartridge. His friends hadn't had the chance to fire their weapons either. Quickly he reloaded, ducking as a bullet whizzed past his head, just barely missing him. The Oz soldiers were on his right flank, and they had perhaps the clearest shots at him that anyone could ever have. Momentarily caught off guard, Trowa looked at the soldiers in disbelief, shocked at how he had truly just cheated death. One centimeter lower and he'd have been dead on the ground.
"Trowa, get over here!!" Duo screamed as he joined the others in firing at the enemy. What the heck happened to him?!?! "Trowa!!! NOW!" Without a seconds hesitation, the young circus performer had spun around, sprinting on the icy ground for the boulders. Jumping behind them, he sat on the snowy ground, panting. "What the heck happened out there?!" Trowa, eyes surprisingly wide in utter shock, was breathing heavily.
"....I just cheated death."
"When don't we," he called back, taking down another five men as they threatened to come up on their flank.
"....no Duo, one little centimeter.....if that.....it made all the difference in the world." Rising, gun in hand once more, Trowa got up and began to fire along with his comrades.
They continued like this for at least an hour longer, exhaustion setting in as their aim began to wander. But the five teenagers pushed on, holding their own as they pushed the OZ soldiers back, slowly bringing down their numbers.
"We can't do this for much longer, we can't continue to hold them off on our own. We're too tired! " "We need to get out of here, now. They're closing in on our right and we can't hold them off with the little ammunition we have left."
"Then what do we do Quatre?" Wufei, his breathing increase, called over his shoulder as he fired yet again at a progressing line of soldiers.
"Concentrate your fire to the center of the line, it's the weakest area. Take down as many men as you can, then on my word, run into the woods, stopping for no one and nothing. We can hide in the shelter of the forest, take cover in its darkness. We try and get to the safe house on foot, we don't have time to worry about killing the rest of these guys. We don't have the......TROWA!" Not noticing that he was enemy had locked onto him, Trowa continued to fire at the approaching men. Quatre, without a second thought, shoved Trowa into the snow as the bullet hit the boulder where he'd been standing, reflected off of the rock as it fell into the freezing water.
Looking back at his weary friend, then at the place he was standing, he realized that he'd truly cheated death once again.
Eyes closed, Quatre lay on the snow, giving into its refreshing coolness. Trowa was still alive, his friends were fine, and he was exhausted; that's all he knew and really wanted to know. But his friends wouldn't be fine for long if they stayed there, they had to get away from the boulders. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the young man pick himself up off of the ground, looking at him with disbelief and amazement. Reluctantly pushing off of the ground, he hauled himself to his feet.
"You guys okay?" Heero called over his shoulder.
"I'm fine, Quatre?"
"Just fine, but we need to make a run for it now. Forget taking down the men, we need to....." he was cut off by a sudden explosion. The heat and energy from the explosive sent him flying backwards, into the water. It was like the ground had dropped off, a deep canyon beneath him in the bottom of the lake.
Not hearing the splash, the other four were thrown, but instantly got back up and started to fire with all their will, taking down soldier after soldier. Their lives would either be spared or end on this battlefield.
bd End of Prelude ca
