Sequel to Mercy's Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters or props affiliated with them. I do, however, own the plot.

~*~ Chapter 4 ~*~

Ice Walls and Growing Fears

Wufei had finished skinning the deer and cutting up the pieces so that they could be used for an evening meal or for refrigeration. Putting away the rest of the meat, Wufei stood and helped Sally who was trying to make the venison into edible soup. "Here, you look like you could use some help..." and taking the slab of meat that lay on the cutting board, he began to work away at it again, slicing through the meat with clean strokes. He had to do something to keep himself busy, to keep his mind off of worrying about his friends and their pain.

Duo exited Quatre's room, having tried to assure his friend that his pain and suffering would all be over soon and that everyone was all right. Of course Heero wasn't, well, in the best of shape, but he was hanging stubbornly onto life for all he was worth. Quatre knew that something was wrong, and Duo had a hard time trying to get around the truth without lying to him, but he was finally able to. Sighing, he walked past Trowa who sat by Heero's side, stroking the wolf from time to time and keeping a close eye on his friend. "Uh Sally? I don't think Quatre's getting any better..."

Sally turned with a curious look and eyed Duo. "What do you mean? Of course he'll be coughing for a while yet and he'll still be in agony for a little while longer, but he should start feeling the effects."

"Is it natural for him to be coughing up blood? Not like little bits, but like small puddles of the stuff?" Duo gestured with his hands, hoping beyond all hope that it was natural.

Sally thought for a minute, then shook her head and walked toward Duo. "Let me see Duo."

"Oh God..." was all Shinigami replied, knowing that if Sally had to see it, then it probably wasn't the best thing in the world.

Trowa looked up from his seat on the floor, tired and worried eyes falling to Sally and Duo, then to Quatre's door. No, this wasn't supposed to happen, why couldn't Fate just leave his friends alone? They'd been put through enough already, and now Heero nearly died in the frozen wilderness, Quatre falling seriously ill from the lake, which, he'd nearly died in as well. Actually, by all logical rights, he had passed on but had been given back to them as a sort of "gift" or miracle. "Why does this have to happen now? What did Quatre do to deserve this much?"

Wufei shook his head as he continued to keep his focus on the venison, trying to keep himself calm. He cared about his friends, even if he didn't show it quite often. But yet, he had to remain focused to help the others when he was needed, he had to keep his discipline in check. Grabbing the bade tighter in his hand, the young warrior continued to slice the meat up into smaller and smaller bits, even if it was fine in the first place.

Sally crossed over to the young man's bedside, taking in a deep breath upon seeing the pale yellow of the pillow case. A crimson red soaked it, blotches of blood staining the cover as Quatre lay breathing heavily. If one could even call it breathing, for it was more like an agonizing panting as he struggled to take in the air. His ghostly white features were twisted in pain, his light blue eyes searching frantically and confused for something. "Quatre?"

Quatre couldn't hear her voice, but instead looked about himself in a panicked frenzy. He didn't know where he was, bright lights and hidden memories crossed his mind's eye, one minute he was in battle in space, then beneath the surface of the lake, then he didn't know where he was. He tried to find his friends, to call out for help, but his voice wouldn't work and he couldn't find them.

Duo strode quickly over to Quatre's side, taking a seat on the bed at his side and took his friend's shoulders in his hands, gently but firmly holding him and trying to keep him still. "Quatre, come on buddy, settle down. Listen to me, it's Duo. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere, you're fine. Come on little buddy, settle down a bit now. If you keep this up you're just going to hurt yourself now come on..." After a few more minutes, Duo was relieved to see that Quatre's eyes focused on him and took notice of him. "I'm not going to ask what that was about, just settle down, please...."

Sally took a seat on Quatre's opposite side, softly brushing back his bangs and kissing his forehead with her lips. They barely bushed the surface of his skin and she was already met with a sweltering heat. "Duo, take that bowl and cloth and fill it halfway with snow from outside, then bring it back, okay? He's got a fever again and it's worse than before."

Duo sighed and took the bowl after giving his friend a reassuring smile, then left for the front door once again.

Sally kept her focus on the young aristocrat, pity filling her eyes as she watched his, filled with fear and perplexity. "Don't worry Quatre, everything will be all right. As soon as this storm's gone, we'll get you to my base and then you can rest comfortably. I'm sorry, but we'll have to make due with what we have here...."

Quatre only nodded, still scared half to death but that soon left him and was replaced with pain. His body was wracked with yet another episode of violent coughing, the metallic taste of blood entering his mouth once again as he turned from Sally. His throat, oh how sore and raw it was! If felt as though he were trying to swallow the sun itself, the air was like a wildfire that he breathed in, causing him excruciating torture not only in his throat and lungs, but in his entire body. He didn't have the strength to keep this up, his side muscles cramping and throbbing with each movement, this multiplied with each cough. He was now beginning to wonder whether being given back his life was a miracle or a curse. Spitting out the blood as it flooded his mouth, he gasped for air. Without the energy to rebel, he felt a pair of hands gently take his shoulders and ease him back onto the bed. Looking up with watering eyes, he found it to be a very worried Duo, but he kept a smile on his face at all times. His only true relief from the uncomfortable heat that he felt and the burning pain in his lungs was a cold cloth being laid upon his forehead, another smaller piece of cloth wiping gently over his cheeks and neck. Slowly, he closed his eyes once more, exhaustion calling but he was unable to answer it in full, no matter how he longed for sleep to come.

Sally grinned at seeing some comfort come to the youth, he was in torment and hell. Well, he wasn't the only one but they would do their best to keep him as comfortable as possible. "Thank you Duo, we'll be leaving as soon as the storm's over, he can't stay here without medical attention and I don't have the necessary equipment. He will die unless otherwise, that and Heero needs to be properly taken care of, that wound in his shoulder isn't stitched.... well.... it was done extremely quickly and it's enough to stop the blood flow from his shoulder, but it should be properly done and I don't have the stuff for that either. I mean, I really wasn't expecting it. We can get them more help back at my base and you can all stay there as long as you need to. We've already gotten your gundams transported from the Sanq Kingdom to our base, Noin knew you'd look for them and right now the Sanq Kingdom isn't the safest of places. They've been repaired in full and are ready and waiting. Oh, we did a little upgrade on each."

Duo looked at her in amusement and knowing, then gratefulness but worry, then amusement before shock and doubt. "You what?"

"Which part?"

"Back it up to our gundams. What exactly did you do to Deathscythe Hell?" Duo whispered softly, but crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood protectively anyway.

"We just upgraded it a little, you know go even faster, not like you don't go fast enough already, and the armor has been reinforced. You can stand about three consecutive shots from Wing Zero's beam cannon and escape without any damage, but anymore than that and you start to suffer a little. Let's see, your scythe's also been upgraded, it can slice right through gundanium steel like a knife through wet tissue paper, though I'm sorry that the neon green which you were so fond of is now a fluorescent navy blue. I think you'll grow to like it, once you get the hang of it Shinigami..."

Duo thought for a minute, he hated that his Gundam Deathscythe Hell was upgraded and tampered with when he wasn't there, even if it was just Sally. He was protective, he didn't deny it, and somewhat upset that he hadn't been there to oversee things. It was his gundam. "You didn't change anything else, everything is as it was when I left it except that it's now repaired and a few more things added?"

Sally smiled, knowing that they might not take it the best but she was just trying to help and she had a feeling that each could use the new features in the future. "That's all Duo, trust me, you'll like it when you've been able to test it out yourself."

Duo nodded and watched Sally continue her work. "So it wasn't natural for him to be coughing up blood?"

Sally shook her head slowly. "No, and it's a good thing you told me, I'll have to watch him like a hawk too."

With a sigh, Duo knew that Sally wasn't going to leave Quatre's side unless someone else came down with a severe illness or unless something happened to Heero. "Just sleep and get better little buddy, we'll take care of things now." With his voice soft and gentle, he assured the young Arabian once more before turning to help Wufei with his task of making the evening meal to keep his mind focused.

Trowa watched over Heero, knowing he shouldn't have let him travel back into the woods alone, or it should have been he who went. "I'm sorry Heero, it should have been me." Sighing, he closed his eyes, disregarding that his legs were falling asleep from being drawn up to his chest for hours now and him sitting in the same position. The wooden floor wasn't the most comfortable seat in the world, but the thick rug helped somewhat. Looking into the eyes of the young wolf, he caught them once again. She seemed so lonely and depressed, tired and worn as he and the others were. But she had never stirred from her spot, every now and then whining to Heero for some response as she laid her head near his hand.

A small movement to his right caught his attention and he threw his gaze swiftly over to Heero, listening to his ever-soft groans drifting from the couch. Painfully pushing himself to his knees, Trowa kneeled by Heero's side and grinned at seeing the white wolf's tale wage slightly. "Hey guys, I think he's waking up."

Both Duo and Wufei turned to look at Trowa, seeing for themselves that Heero was beginning to stir as he tried to force his eyes open.

Heero felt pain race through his entire body, his insides feeling frozen. This only amplified the pain from the gunshot wound in his right shoulder, but a warmth surrounded him and soft voices drifted to his ears. Forcing his eyes open, he was met with blurred shapes and a soft light. "...wh..where.."

Trowa smiled as he placed his left hand softly on Heero's lower arm, careful to avoid aggravating his wound. "It's okay, you're back at the cabin. There's no need to worry, you need to save your strength. Everyone's safe and Sally's here to take care of both you and Quatre, you don't have to worry about OZ."

Heero listened to Trowa's voice as he blinked his eyes, finally clearing his vision. Questions plagued his mind and they weren't going to leave him until they were answered. "..H-How'd I...get here?"

At this, Trowa watched the wolf jump up on her hind legs and look over Heero. The look on his face was one that shouldn't be missed, he was confused, scared half to death, and amazed at the same time. A disgusted look crossed his face when she began to lick his cheek, her large tongue cleaning him. He couldn't help himself any longer, so he burst into laughter. This isn't something he would normally have done and he heard soft chuckling from Duo and a snicker from Wufei, but he could also feel their eyes on him as well. He just couldn't help himself.

Heero tried to get the creature away from him, recognizing the wolf from the forest. As he moved his right arm to try and push the overgrown dog away, he felt a sharp pain race throughout the entire of his torso. Gritting his teeth he forced himself to remain quiet, but he could hear soft groans pour from his lips.

Trowa stopped his laughter and was at Heero's side in no time, softly moving the wolf from in front of him. She bared her teeth, but didn't snap and moved away whining. "Heero, I'm sorry. Here, just lay still....." He'd caught sight of Heero's exposed shoulder, well, it was somewhat exposed from under white bandages. A bold red began to soak through it and he knew that his friend's wound had just been reopened. Tossing off the blanket and standing, though it took him a few minutes and he had to work to keep his balance, he motioned for Duo to bring him a chair from the kitchen table. Taking it, he sat down and ignored Heero's forced breaths as he untied the bandage, and watched the blood seep from his shoulder. "That was smart, you pulled the stitches. I admit, they weren't the best, but you still shouldn't have pulled them out that easily. Wufei go get Sally, she'll have to re-stitch this, I would but right now I'm having trouble keeping my hand steady, let alone be able to stitch up his shoulder. You were lucky, and it looks like you've got a new little friend."

Heero tried to steady his breathing as he pushed the pain back into a far corner of his mind. Looking at Trowa, he winced at hearing that Sally would have to suture his shoulder. He was really beginning to hate needles, Lord knows as many times as he'd had to use them or feel them for any numerous wound of his. "W-what do... you mean?"

Smirking, Trowa rose from his seat with some help from Duo in keeping his balance, he watched Sally work silently by his friend's side. She had her things and was already threading the sewing needle, surprised to see the regretful look in Heero's eyes. "The wolf you fear so much when you awoke is the one that saved you, she must have dragged you into her den when you'd fallen unconscious. All I knew was that I thought Sally was you, then the wolf when she showed up at the door and then burst into the room. I knew something was wrong and then she led me to her den, already having covered you in a pile of leaves. I brought you back here, with the help of your mother, and she's stayed since."

"...urgh...M-mother?"

"Well, she seems to think you're one of her cubs and doesn't look like no one's going to change her mind. I doubt even you could..." His smirk faltered when he heard his friend stifle another cry as Sally continued her work, her fingers red with his blood.

Sally ignored his cries, also somewhat worried about his cheeks being so flushed while he was still extremely pale. "I'm almost done Heero. These'll stay in better, though not much. I don't have the right equipment and as soon as this storms over, we're all going to go back to my base where you and Quatre will be taken care of and nursed back to health and then all of you can stay and rest as long as you need to."

Duo thought this the perfect time to add, just to see what the others would say. "Did you tell them about the gundams and the upgrades yet?"

Heero looked from Trowa to Duo to Sally and gave her a warning glance. If she had tampered with any of Wing Zero's systems or codes, then he'd have to reprogram everything which would take forever and if he perchance messed something up, it could cost him his life in battle. "What?"

Sighing, Sally shot Duo a glare in return to his playful smirk, then smiled. "It's okay guys, Noin helped to transport your gundams from the Sanq Kingdom to our base where we went ahead and repaired everything. We just added a few features, don't worry about it now though. You need to rest and everything is as you left it, we didn't mess with anything else. I don't think you'll complain later either, so don't worry about it."

Heero closed his eyes, grimacing slightly when he felt Sally tie the thread, this pulling at the torn skin. "...fine...." Overwhelming heat fell over him as he tried to take in air, his vision swirling and fading. He didn't know what was happening to him and he was somewhat afraid at that time. Clutching the blanket with his left hand and holding on for dear life, he felt the earth begin to sway under him, but he didn't dare close his eyes. Heero tried to call for his friends, but his voice wouldn't work and he couldn't breathe.

"Heero?" Sally placed her hand upon his chest to try and stop him from struggling as she watched his fear. It was like that of Quatre's, but she didn't know what was wrong with Heero. She hastily moved her hand when the young wolf came to his side and stood with her front paws on the couch, licking the young man's cheek and trying to calm him herself. Her soft whines echoed in the quiet room.

"What's wrong with him Sally?" Wufei looked on as he watched his friend with frantic eyes.

"I-I don't know. Come on Heero, you've got to settle down. Heero?" Sally tried to settle him down again when the wolf had moved, her eyes searching Sally's before glancing at her "cub" and then back to Sally.

Heero heard the distant call of Sally's voice as he took in gasping breaths, the world stopping it's violent spinning. His vision was beginning to come once again, and he looked around with a panicked gaze for his friends and answers as to what just happened to him. Focusing on Sally, he watched her but didn't speak, his energy having taken a dramatic decrease.

Trowa stood silent, not sure what to expect and afraid for his friend. Heero had never done anything like this before and he wasn't sure why this would happen now. By the looks of it, Heero was at just as much of a loss as the rest of them were.

Duo closed his mouth, having realized that he was getting ready to speak when whatever happened to his buddy happened, but he never spoke. Actually, he didn't even know what he was going to say, he just hoped that Heero was all right.

Sally jumped up from her chair, strode into Quatre's room with quiet steps and brought back one of the cold, damp cloths and began to trace it along Heero's flushed cheeks. "It's okay now, everything's going to be all right. Just settle down and take in deep breaths, everything's going to be fine..." With soft assurances, she watched his eyelids slowly close, exhaustion calling to his tired soul.

Heero forced himself to remain awake, but it was a battle that he was losing. With great effort, he parted his lips to speak, forcing them to move and it was nearly impossible to make his voice speak. "...wh-what h- happened..." His voice barely spoke in a whisper as he barely opened his eyes, not managing anything more.

Sally shook her head and continued her work, softly pressing her lips against his forehead to find that he had a soaring fever as well. "I don't know, why don't you tell me what was scaring the crap out of you that badly...." Nodding to the others, she assured them that it was okay to go about what they were doing, but only Wufei left and that was to take care of the venison before returning.

Closing his eyes again, oh how he wanted to fall asleep, he forced himself to speak again. "...I-I couldn't breathe.... everything.. was blacking out.... everything started spinning...." Taking in short breaths, he tried to stay awake again. A savory smell wafted from the kitchen inlet, beckoning to the hungry youth, yet the call of sleep was stronger.

Sally sighed, softly moving back his bangs and dabbing his forehead with the cloth. Sweet relief overcame his features and she couldn't help but smile. "About when did this all start happening?"

With his last bits of strength, he spoke once again. "...when you...you began.."

Sally shushed him after this, seeing the strain in his features as he tried to reply. She had all she needed to diagnose the problem. "Your body was responding after the long rest to the stitching in your arm. It was a bit of a shock to your body, normally it wouldn't have been anything new to you, but in your weakened state it was an extreme shock. Your body was just responding, it doesn't last very long in most cases. I don't think it was all in due to the stitching, you have an extremely high fever too. Do you and Quatre plan this out or something, because I swear.... anyway, just get to sleep, you need all the energy you can get." Wiping the drying cloth along his cheeks and neck, she watched him drift off to sleep. Rising from her feet, she strode into the kitchen area and grabbed another medium bowl. Sighing as she grabbed for the door handle of the front entrance, she pulled it open to be met with a mound of snow that stood at about her waist. Surprisingly, it didn't collapse on top of her, but instead remained frozen in place. "Oh you have to know that this is good..." Sarcastically she thought aloud, scraping the top snow off of the ice block and into the bowel. Returning to Heero's side, she motioned for Trowa to take a seat in the chair and continue her work in bringing his fever. Upon seeing Trowa start his work, she left to Quatre's room again to quell his never-ending coughs.

~*~

Lunch and dinner had long since passed, three of the five pilots with filled stomachs and one ally to with them. But Heero and Quatre remained asleep, both far beyond the safe limits of exhaustion, their weak forms vulnerable to anything.

Trowa rose from his seat near the fire and headed over to the door, curious as to why Keiha was whining so. If anyone named her, it should be Heero who did, but he just thought Keiha was fitting and it was something to call her by for now. Bending down, he scratched behind her left ear and watched her eyes light up slightly with enjoyment, but she continued to whine none the less. "What it is Keiha? What do you want out there?" Standing, he turned to the window, no one had really checked on the progress of the weather and he was curious as to what the wolf might be so anxious to go out after. Coming upon it, he didn't see anything, not the gray sky nor the falling snow, but a sheet of opaque ice. "What the..."

Duo exited from Quatre's room, having just checked on his friend again. His pneumonia only seemed to progress and he was beyond the point of utter hell. "Somethin' wrong Trowa?"

Wufei rose from his seat by Heero's side, for he had let Trowa rest as he tried to bring down his comrade's fever. His actions were still to no avail, just as the others' attempts had been. "What is it?"

Trowa trotted over to the door, pulling open the door with a quick jerk of the handle. He was met with a solid wall of ice, the entire of the entrance blocked. "This can't be good."

Duo looked along with Wufei at the ice-blocked entrance, surprise clearly etched in his features. Rubbing his eyes and blinking a few times, he looked back and realized that he wasn't seeing things. "Okay, I might just be tired, but are you guys seeing what I am?"

Wufei spoke his reply. "If you're seeing a giant wall of ice that's trapped us in this cabin, then yes." Oh yes, this was just great! Two of his only friends were ill and not getting any better, if anything worse, and they were trapped in the cabin that only had one door! Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked, they could probably break the ice, tunnel out, then dig out the entrance.

Trowa nodded in response, placing his hand on the ice as he heard Keiha dig frantically at the lower portion of it. Looking down, he realized that her sharp claws only managed in chipping the ice. "Well, looks like things just decided to go our way. By the looks of it, this ice barricade is extremely thick and hard, even Keiha can't dig through it. Our only chance of escape is through the chimney and our only source of heat is the fire. We can't let it go out guys or we're in extreme trouble. Heero and Quatre are having enough problems as it is, if the fire were to go out for too long, we could lose the both of them. If we're lucky, OZ'll find us and dig us out, we can deal with being captured and they couldn't be stupid enough not to treat the both of them. That or the ice might melt, but we don't have many options here." Sighing, he leaned against the opened door and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You know, I think someone up there really has a grudge against us..." Duo looked at the ceiling, motioning toward the heavens outside the walls. As if in response to his comment, the electrical lights flickered and the shut off, the electricity having been stopped by the winter snows. With a look of total disbelief, shock, and disgust, Duo looked at the others. "What did I do?!"

Wufei shook his head, praying that the gods were not angry with them and if they were, that they would spare his friends. "Duo, just think about what you say before you speak, okay?"

Trowa ignored the two, snorting softly before yawning in exhaustion. "Just don't say that things can't get worse, because they can and probably will. Right now, let's just keep the others as warm and comfortable as possible, try and draw away their fevers and keep the fire going." At that time, Sally left the room to try and find out what was going on.

Sally was surprised to see the lights off, but didn't say anything as she listened to the guys speak. "What's going on?"

"The electricity's gone out." Wufei spoke bluntly as he returned to his task of trying to draw away Heero's stubborn fever. Everything this guy did, he did with stubbornness, his fever proved this. "How's Quatre?"

Sally looked at all of the pilots before shaking her head. "Still coughing like crazy, still fever-struck. By the looks of it, so is Heero. I'm not even going to ask why the door's wide open and I can't see anything but white."

"It might be best you don't. How much more time do we have before they both become critical?" Trowa looked at her, the light of the fire dancing vaguely on her face.

"Quatre's pneumonia is progressing rapidly, he's got about another day before it'd just be kinder to put him out of his misery. Actually, he's at that point now, but there's still hope for his recovery. Heero, I don't know about. I can't think as to why he has a fever in the first place, and I might be able to tell if I were back at my base, but I'm not."

Trowa thought for a minute, then added. "Could it be an infection? In his shoulder, from the bullet or maybe something that was in Keiha's den. That could have triggered his fever."

"It might, but I don't have any antibiotics here either." Sighing, Sally felt like she was ready to collapse but didn't. "You guys are tired, you need to get some sleep. We'll have to try and get out of here tomorrow or we might as well just put the both of them out of there misery and show them mercy. After that, it's no use."

Duo shook his head, first the ice that trapped them in, and now they only had about a day to get out of there, to Sally's aircraft, and back to her base?! It'd be impossible! Sure, they'd accomplished nearly impossible, but impossible was impossible without a few hundred miracles! "Why does this have to happen now?!"

Wufei only held his tongue, fighting his emotions at the thought of losing his friends. And now it wouldn't only be Quatre, but Heero as well. If life was going to be this cruel, then maybe...

Trowa only sighed heavily before nodding. "It looks like we better start asking for a few more miracles or think of something quick." Dropping his arms, he searched his side for the familiar firearm at his side. Grabbing it and holding it in front of him, Trowa watched the fire glisten over it's deadly, metal form before pulling out the cartridge. If worse came to worse, he wouldn't let his friends suffer needlessly. Looking, he sighed once again, fighting off his emotions as well. He had a few bullets left, his eyes quickly scanning over them. He only had two left, and it was enough to do the job.

~Lady Stardancer



Author's Note:

Oh my gosh, I actually wrote that last part?! ~faints~ I didn't even realize I was putting that in there! I thought about it, but....holy cow! Okay, I don't even know my own mind! ~sighs and trembles~ Okay, thanks for reading this and keeping with me, sorry but I had extreme writers block and my English portfolio was due. Four major papers, five pages each and my stupid computer erased them all! ~fumes and glares at computer before taking in deep breaths~ Please review, and I'll try and get the next chapter up soon. Sorry for the wait and thanks for stickin' with me! Adios! ~runs off to a new computer to type, a BETTER computer!~