Disclaimer: I don't own either Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon … but … I own YOU! Err … yeah. That.

Chapter 10: Futures Crumbling

Artemis shook his head slowly as he leafed through the file and took detailed notes on every illegal action Usagi had every committed, frowning as the list continued to grow at an alarming speed. He set the file down reluctantly and rubbed his face tiredly with both hands. He had been confronted with the facts and truly had to admit that Innocence needed Usagi. Badly.

The rate of successful missions dropped from a nice, cushy 76.9% to Innocence's all-time low at an embarrassing 54.3%. And the bad news didn't stop there.

Artemis had always hated the hierarchical and bureaucratic form of organization that most prominent companies and the government adopted. He preferred a more efficient and comfortable way of doing things. Everybody in Innocence knew about his unspoken open door policy, and any member of their organization could sit down and chat before heading out for an assignment. It worked out nicely. His people were satisfied and so was he. Until Usagi left.

She had been his morale and therefore Innocence's as well. During her absence, he found himself receiving more complaints, some pleasant and some not, regarding his recent "pushy attitude" and "incessant bitching".

He had to admit it – he was a mess without her.

The November report showed a steep incline in casualties as well as slip-ups.

Artemis looked out the window and saw his future crumbling.

…………………

"Hiiro?" she whispered fearfully.

Her roommate had slid down from a standing position against the wall, streaks of horrid scarlet stained his shirt from the still bleeding wound upon his chest. The bullet had lodged in his body, no more than six inches downwards and to the right from the heart.

His face was pale and eyes slitted, only small slivers of the whites showing.

Her heart rate sped up immediately as she fought to retain control of her composure and recall facts she had learned in the mandatory emergency medical care classes Artemis had required each member of Innocence to take. She ran for the cupboards and flipped through them, heart sinking as no saran wrap turned up. Hot tears burnt the back of her throat before she gave up and tore up a plastic grocery bag so that there were no longer two layers of plastic when it was laid flat.

Hiiro's wound was more than serious. Judging the distance from the window to his sprawled form, the shot couldn't have been much more than twenty feet away and could have been much closer. The bullet had most definitely hit a lung and in a matter of minutes, even with the plastic stretching over to cover up the entrance wound, the lung would be leaking air into the chest cavity with every breath, and it was going to collapse.

Hiiro was little more than an inch away from certain death.

…………………

Artemis started as his secretary poked her head into the room and signaled at the phone. "Line two. It's urgent," she whispered and snuck back out.

Blinking at the closed door, he slowly picked up the phone and switched on the vid-com, gasping as Usagi's face, eyes disoriented with panic and blood smeared on in stripes popped up on the screen. He leaned forward quickly and almost fell over as his chair tipped. Usagi didn't bat an eyelash when normally she would have burst out in peals of laughter.

The instant she saw that he was attentive, she let out a string of almost incoherent words that centered around the name Hiiro. "…need your help! Artemis! Oh my God … it's just so…"

He felt like tearing his hair out and shaking her by her shoulders but settled for slowly letting go of a long breath of air and focusing his attentions on calming her down.

"Usagi!"

"…but it was just so horrible! And there he was – against the-"

He tried again. "Usagi!"

"…and the blood! It was just everywhere and-"

"Usagi! Shut up!" She finally stopped and froze, staring at him as if just realizing he was there. Artemis sighed and drew in a refreshing lungful of air. "Get a hold of yourself, Usagi."

She blinked and cocked her head puzzledly at him like a curious puppy.

"Let's start with the basics: are you hurt?"

She blinked again, slowly bringing her hands up to her face and realizing that they were covered in half coagulating blood. "No."

"Who is then?"

"Hiiro!" He pulled back as her eyes suddenly took on a half-crazed glimmer, and she leaned forwards, towards the screen. "You have to come help me! Take him to a doctor or something! Do you know why, Art? Do you know why?!"

She waited breathlessly for his response as he pulled back even farther and stared at her, not daring to admit to himself that this was Tsukino Usagi. Twenty days ago she had been perfectly fine, back from a successful mission, lovable, sociable, and on top of the world.

Where was she now?

"Why?"

"Because I can't speak a damn word of French!" She broke into frustrated sobs.

This was where she had crossed the line. Artemis was panicking with her. Usagi never cried. At least, not in public. In fact, in the eight years that she had been with Innocence, no living soul had reported her crying or trembling or anything that displayed any weaknesses at all.

What had happened to her?

Love

He shook his head to dispel the word and chose not to remember it. Even the thought of Usagi in love was absurd.

"We're heading over soon in a helicopter. I'm going to bring Mizuno Ami. Can you handle him, Usagi?" he said slowly, but what he really wanted to know was whether or not she could handle herself.

Usagi swallowed her tears and nodded bravely, almost smiling. Artemis smiled back tentatively and felt pride swell in his heart. Usagi was in charge, always in charge, and he could count on her.

"Now, I'm going to put Ami on the line and have her give you instructions, all right?"

Again, Usagi nodded bravely.

He opened the line to his secretary just outside the door. "Tell Mizuno Ami to drop everything and come to my office."

"Y-yes sir."

He turned back to the screen. "Can you tell me what happened, Usagi?"

She sniffed and began, voice hoarse. "I was in my room when I heard a sound and went out to investigate. This man threatened me to follow him at gunpoint and I shot him. His wallet said he was part of the FBI and…" She gulped, and he tried to make his face look as encouraging as possible. "And then I found Hiiro … shot through the chest." It took a lot of strength for her to keep from breaking down, and he sympathized deeply with her.

"Artemis? What's the matter?" Ami stood in front of his desk, panting from running and hair mussed. She had just woken up.

"Talk to her." He stood up and let her have the seat. Ami looked confusedly at him, thoroughly flustered, before sitting down and looking into the screen. She gasped out loud.

"Usagi! Are you okay? Where are you hurt?"

Usagi looked confused for a moment before shaking her head vehemently. "Don't worry, Ami. It's not my blood."

Ami almost felt her blood pressure returning to normal and sighed in relief. "So what happened?"

"It ... It's Hiiro. He's been shot."

Ami nodded. This was familiar territory now. "Where?"

"In the chest, about six inches from his heart. The bullet is lodged in his right lung. It's low in the chest and the left lung is somewhat elevated above it."

"You're lucky."

Usagi frowned. "Why?" She shook her head quickly and thought better of it. "Never mind. We don't have time to waste."

"Have you covered the wound?"

"With thin plastic."

Ami nodded again. "How badly is he bleeding?"

"It hasn't stopped yet … but has slowed a bit…"

"How long since he's been shot?"

Usagi bit her lip and thought hard. "Maybe … three to five minutes."

"Is he conscious?"

"No."

"Check his breathing and his pulse. Are they still there?"

Ami waited tensely as Usagi turned and did her bidding. "Yes but both are weak and slow."

Artemis stood silently to the side as he watched the efficient and quick exchange of data. Ami was scribbling notes to herself before finally nodding curtly at Usagi.

"You can't really do much. The key is to stop the bleeding and keep his lung from collapsing for as long as possible … You can probably apply towels and pressure to the wound. Keep the plastic on there and make sure it's as tight as you can make it without hurting him."

Usagi nodded after each tip. "What … what do you think his chances for survival are?"

Ami sighed and squeezed her eyes shut tightly before opening them and blinking to clear her vision. "Do you really want to know, Usagi?" she asked gently.

The blonde visibly gulped and quickly shook her head no. "When will you be here?"

Ami glanced up at Artemis before turning back to the screen. "In about three hours. We'll call you and get the exact address after we get into Calais."

Usagi nodded.

"Don't do anything rash, Usa."

Another nod.

"We'll see you in three hours then." Ami tried to smile an upbeat smile but from the way Usagi's face fell, she knew she had failed miserably.

"Bye."

…………………

"Miss Darlian. You have a message." The messenger nodded at her and whispered into her ear. She started abruptly and stood up so quickly that her chair fell over backwards.

"Are you sure?"

The messenger nodded gravely.

She turned back to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, this conference is adjourned until further notice."

A tidal wave of questions and camera flashes answered her as she headed off-stage, the messenger leading the way. She barely heard or saw them.

…………………

"Artemis! Hurry!" Ami yelled from down the hall, walking into his room to see what was taking her boss so long. "What are you doing? Why are you bringing that?"

He didn't answer immediately, slowly and carefully checking that the handgun had ammunition before turning to her and the door.

"I'm ready."

"Why are you bringing that?"

He looked aside. "If it needs to be done, I'll be the one to do it."

Ami jerked back in shock before sighing. "You're too protective of her."

"I don't want her to regret it later."

"Fine. If he needs to be put out of his misery, be my guest. But we need to try our hardest to prevent it." She pegged him with a long, hard look, silently challenging him. He didn't flinch.

"We need to hurry."

She nodded and they headed towards the hanger and the helicopter, praying that time would stop, if just for them.

……………………

How was it peeps? Long time no see! :D It's almost the end of the school year! Time really flies … ~shrugs~ Anyhow. Thanks for reading1 Yours, Angel.

Notes:

Angel: Thanks for taking the time to review! Here's the next chapter. :D

Ishtar: You're back! :D Thanks for reviewing!

Hot_Chick_1231: Heh … you thought that was evil … ^^;;; And you think my chapters are long? Wow! First person yet…

Morrighan of Crimson and Sable: Lol … I'd say 'get used to it' but seems really mean … ^^;;;

Ashika: Ack! I still need to edit Chaos and and and … do you want me to edit Eclipse? You ended at such an odd place – in the middle of a sentence. O____O But anyhow. I'll get them to you by … today. :D Hopefully…

Jemjols: Hiiro? Die? Y'know … it never really crossed my mind to actually kill him until all the people who didn't want it mentioned it … heh. But … you talk of waiting? How long has it been since you've updated? ~taps foot~ Go write! ^^;;;

Li-chan: Evil cliffhangers abound … mawhahaha. I love doing this … writing, I mean. Not leaving cliffhangers. ^^

Serena Yuy: ROFL! "I'll be praying for Heero having GOOD HEALTH in the NEXT CHAPTER" Heh. :D Sorry … I already had it planned out and everything … but what worried me was that you think they don't have a relationship … sigh. I'm not sure if I went into that enough … it almost seems as if … well … I just never really go into the relationship (in later chapters, I mean) soooooooo … arg. tears at hair It's the same problem with Picture This. Relationships suck. :P And honestly, the whole date with Hiiro's corpse sounds very intriguing. Don't be surprised if it shows up … though I promise it won't in this fic. ^^;;; Not killing a kawaii anime character? glances at Hiiro and shrugs. Ah well. He can always come back. :D Thanks for the review! ^___^

Sunshine Fia: Heh heh heh … Usagi's past … hmmm … somewhere in the middle of … either the next chapter or the one after that. :D Contrary to popular belief, I do know where I'm going with this. ^^;;;

Jupiter Angel: Well ... here you go! The reason why she screamed. :D

AmyAngel: Heh. More cliffhangers soon…

Obsessed: No way he's dead. I agree. But close to dead is a whole different matter. :D

Tenshi-Chikyuu: LOL. "I've never been glomped before, what a ride". :D Here's the next chapter!

Thanks to everybody for taking the time to read this! Email: angelight97@yahoo.com