Title: Promise
Summary: Heero is very sick and he tries to hide it from Duo. Duo has vowed never to lose anyone again like Solo, and when he finds out, he will do everything he can to save his friend. But it may be too late, and he may be forced to do the unthinkable.
Author: wild horse
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing; I'm making NO money out of this.
Acknowledgments: Jesus, Padawan Nik-ka, and Nat
a/n: thanks for the reviews :) ah, the gundam combat is abit off, sorry, but okay, I guess.
Chapter 5:
"Wufei?" Duo pushed the room door open gently. It was about 7 in the morning. "I need a favour."
The Chinese boy scowled. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, "What?"
He closed the door behind him, "I need you to help me persuade Heero to sit out this mission."
Wufei arched an eyebrow. He didn't bother to ask Duo to sit down, just let him stand there and waited for him to continue.
"Uh, it's like this. He's sick… and I don't think he can do it," Duo tried not to look away from the other pilots' intense, and uncomfortable, gaze.
There was still no response.
"Okay, look, dammit, you could at least say something!" Duo snapped.
Wufei sighed, "Right. So what do you think I should do and why do you think I should do it?"
"I just said it. He's sick, very sick, and I'm damned worried about him," Duo forced the desperation out of his voice.
"The last time I checked, Heero Yuy was still alive," there was still a hint of sarcasm.
"I'm serious here, and you're not helping. He blacked out on me, the last mission."
This got Wufei's attention. It finally occurred to him that Duo was still standing uncomfortably, and he told the long-haired pilot to take a seat. "When he hurt his arm?" he asked.
Duo paused for awhile, debating whether to tell Wufei or not. "No. He wasn't hit or what."
Wufei nodded, understanding. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Stop him from going, I guess. I could hear him coughing nearly half the night. If he doesn't do this mission, and what with the break we have after this, he'll recover."
The other pilot tilted his head slightly, "You're sure."
"Of course I'm sure!" Duo shot back immediately.
"Okay. We can do without him, force him to rest. But like I said, what do you want me to do to stop him?" Wufei knew that if Heero was as sick as Duo thought he was, he would hide it as best he could and try and get on with the mission. And for that, Wufei respected the Japanese pilot – quite a bit – and knew that Heero would be putting himself – and the mission – in jeopardy if he went.
"Hit him on the head? I don't know. We could collaborate, I guess."
Wufei thought for awhile before answering, "Fine. We'll try and talk him out of it. If that doesn't work, then we'll try something else."
"Okay, thanks. And, uh, Heero actually sent me to tell you that we'll leave at 1100," Duo got up, walked to the door, pulled it open, and left the room.
1045. Heero picked up his duffel and laptop and walked out of his room. His head still hurt abit, and the nausea was there, but he pushed it away easily.
Duo was already outside in the hall, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, his duffel dumped carelessly on the floor beside him.
"Hee-chan?"
"Hn."
"Look, I talked this over with Wufei, and we decided, the two of us can complete the mission alone, okay? So you can sit this one out," Duo said uncomfortably, knowing it would not go down well with his partner.
Heero glared. "I'm okay. I'll be able to do it."
"From what Duo's been telling me, I think you should give this mission a miss," Wufei appeared from his room, closing the door behind him.
"Damn it, what is wrong with you two?" Heero snapped.
"Look Heero Yuy, for once, just stop it, okay? I'm not going to have you going out there and dying on us or something like that. There's nothing wrong if you have to skip a mission. Don't be stupid."
"Hn," Heero ignored him, "We'd better be going." he turned to head for the door.
Duo rolled his eyes, and looked towards Wufei for help. Wufei moved up behind Heero. The Japanese pilot hesitated, then whipped around as he realised what the other boy meant to do, but Wufei was lightning-quick, and he blocked off Heero's fists with one hand. Duo lunged at Heero, throwing him off balance, then pressing the advantage that Heero's split-second of surprise had given him, Wufei brought his other hand down. It connected with the back of the other boy's neck, and dropped him unconscious to the floor.
"Weak point," Wufei explained, "Hit it right, and the whole person will go down. He'll be okay, though, don't worry about it."
Duo immediately knelt down to check Heero's pulse. Then he and Wufei picked the unconscious pilot up and dumped him on his bunk, locking the room door once they left.
"How long will he be out for?" Duo asked.
"An hour or two, maybe a bit more," Wufei got into the truck and started the engine. "Let's go get the Gundams."
"Looks clear," Duo heard Wufei's voice over the communications unit, slightly distorted by static, but as cold as ever.
"Okay, let's go ahead and blow this base up," He turned Deathscythe to face the nearest building. He and Wufei had made short work of the base's surprisingly weak defenses, downing the ten or so Mobile Suits easily and demolishing the gun turrets. Now, they were ready to move in for the kill.
"Wait Maxwell, radar's picking up something…" Wufei trailed off, and on his screen, Duo could see Shenlong turn and face north.
"What the…" Duo exclaimed as the blips appeared on the radar board. Where there had been none, there were now a hundred or more, coming at them from all directions. "We've been ambushed."
"One minute to engagement," Wufei reminded him, his voice was getting even more distorted. Duo could barely make out the words.
"Damn, comm. is being jammed," Duo yelled as clearly as he could, so Wufei could hear.
"Our radar was, too, that's why we did not spot them earlier," Wufei answered, bringing up the sword in Shenlong's right arm. "Wait for them, Maxwell, then we go in."
Duo didn't bother to answer anymore – he doubted that Wufei would be able to make out anything. Instead, he raised the scythe, watching as the brilliant yellow-green blade came into view of the camera, then pushed the directional control over the left to bring Deathscythe nearer to Shenlong.
The first wave of homing missiles came at them. Duo waited until they were twenty metres away, then pulled the joystick towards him, breaking away from Shenlong. Wufei did the same in the opposite direction, confusing the homing mechanism in the missiles for a split second, but the proximity sensors kicked in and the missiles exploded in a ball of flame. The explosion rocked Deathscythe, but Duo took a step backward to stabilise, then braced himself for the second wave of missiles before the Mobile Suits would come near enough to use their guns.
He ignored the figures splashed across his board – the computer had found a total of nearly two hundred Mobile Suits. He knew he couldn't count the odds, he and Wufei were outnumbered by almost a hundred to one. A grim smile on his face, he dodged the next wave of missiles, then stepped on the acceleration, bringing the scythe down at the same time. It connected with the metal hull of the first enemy mobile suit, and sliced through.
One down. A hundred to go…
The rest of them surged around the two Gundams, guns blazing.
I don't think we're gonna see tomorrow, Duo mused, then pushed the thought out of his mind, bringing all his concentration to bear on the battle.
The electronic beeping wouldn't stop.
Heero opened his eyes. The room around him was dim, but not very dark. For a split second, he wondered where he was…then he knew.
Damn Wufei, damn Duo.
He tried to get off his bunk, but landed on his knees on the floor instead. He reached out for the laptop and hit a key. The beeping stopped. There was a message on the screen, and a large tactical display. He shook his head to clear away the headache, then realised what was on the screen.
Shit. It's an ambush! They're going to walk into an ambush.
Heero realised the information – and the order to abort the mission – must have been sent recently to his laptop, after Wufei and Duo had left. He pushed himself up from the floor, grabbing onto the wall so he could stay on his feet. The pain ricocheted through his head, dropping him back onto the floor, his hands holding onto his head, his teeth clenched.
Go away…
He knew it wouldn't. So he reached for the bottle of pills Duo had taken from the hospital and swallowed one. The smell hit him again, and he remembered what it was now. He had been taught about it once. The medicine wasn't actually a total cure, it could only suppress the symptoms for some time, allow him to maybe live a little longer before it became even worse.
But he couldn't tell Duo that. He had promised Duo that he wouldn't die, and Heero meant to keep that promise. He could hide the fact, and maybe it would go away. The drug was starting to kick in, and the headache began to subside.
Hurry. Heero got to his feet again, grabbed his duffel and laptop, then headed for the door. He yanked at it, but it was locked, and didn't open. Using all his strength, he pulled at it viciously, and it flew open. He ran through the doorway and out of the hut.
Wufei and Duo had taken the pick-up truck, so Heero slung his duffel and laptop over his shoulder, and broke into a run. It would take maybe 20 minutes to get to the warehouse, if he was fast enough. His headache had cleared by now, but the running at an impossible pace was causing his stomach to hurt.
Damn it, hurry! Heero pushed himself to run faster, his breath coming in gasps, but he ignored it. The nausea was building up in the pit of his stomach, and he started coughing violently. He retched a few times, then paused briefly to throw up. There was blood in the vomit, and he ignored that as well, turning instead and continuing to run.
The pain in his stomach was growing with every step he took, so that by the time he was a hundred metres from the warehouse, he was stumbling and bent over, eyes half-closed but still running. He retched and vomited again – this time outside the warehouse – before he pushed open the doors and stepped inside, noting casually that there was more blood present this time than before.
He was forced to lean against the wall, to stop himself from blacking out again. He waited a few seconds, swallowed two more tablets, then headed for Wing. Climbing into the cockpit, Heero started up the Gundam, plugging his laptop into a jack so it could transmit the tactical data and checking all the displays with a swift glance. Nothing was amiss.
He stepped on the pedal and Wing surged forward, out of the warehouse.
Heero brought up the communications and tried to raise Deathscythe or Shenlong, but he couldn't reach them. He cursed silently. It had started. He channelled as much power as he could to the boosters, and hoped he could get there in time.
Heero closed his eyes, letting the autopilot fly. It would take at least seven minutes to get there. He could feel the medicine working, clearing away the headache and the dizziness. He pushed everything away, focusing only on the mission – to make sure Duo and Wufei got out alive. That was all he hoped for, all he wanted. Everything else wasn't important just yet.
The fact that he was sick wouldn't hinder the mission at all. For Heero knew he was sick, knew that he couldn't deny it any more, and that he might be forced to break his promise to Duo.
But not before the mission is done.
Dark-blue eyes opened slowly, then narrowed in a frown of concentration. 3 minutes more. He tensed his muscles, and waited.
TBC…