Chapter 8

"Heero." It was Trowa.

"What?"

"They've clocked in."

"Who..?"

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Ah."

Wing, can we?

Yes.

So that they can hear?

Yes Wing replied, and did it.

"Right, we can't hear them, but they can hear us." Heero said, "Problem solved."

"Oh god, Treize is going to kill us." Quatre moaned.

"Let him." Heero said simply. The others sighed. He was in deep. "We're here." Heero said. They had reached the city. "You sure you're all in this? It could be dangerous."

"Shut up Heero and get going, we're not going anywhere apart from where you tell us." Trowa said. Heero felt the warmth flowing through him and let it fuel him.

"Right, when we get over this thing, lower yourself gently down and get used to water before you start going down." Heero said.

Wing, I want the pressure changed to what it will be when we go down there and go down slow enough so I can cope. When I'm gone and Duo and I are back in…

I'll fix it so we do the same going up.

Great.

"Let's do this, guys." He said. They all gritted their teeth as they all rose up off the floor again, and the four in the control room held their breaths.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Duo's ears popped for the umpteenth time. Deathscythe's pressure system had gently failed, and he was now under the full pressure of three hundred and thirty feet. He kept blinking, kept Heero in his mind to keep him from blacking out but the stars kept creeping up behind his eyelids. The cold kept him awake a little bit, but it wasn't enough. He opened his eyes again, closed them…and then jolted them open. He scrunched up his eyes to see better. He could have sworn that…it was! A beam of light came down from somewhere, it swept over him and swept back. He couldn't move he was so stiff but he craned forward.

His heart nearly stopped when he saw the toe of a Gundam. As more and more of the Gundam came into view, his breathing got faster and faster. He knew who this was. The Gundam got closer and closer, and then he saw the bottom of the green, see-through sphere that heralded the cabin. Slowly, slowly, the cabin floated into view, and he saw what, in his eyes, was the equivalent of an angel. Heero was in the cabin. He shielded his eyes from the glare of Wing's light, and then it went. He looked up and saw the cabin window, now touching his own, and Heero, actually Heero, leaning over the dashboard.

Duo waved weakly. Heero's hand pressed against the glass of his cabin window, and his eyes desperately searched Duo for injury. Duo almost cried with relief. Heero was here; he had come to save him. After Heero's eyes had sighed with relief, Wing started backing up a bit, letting Duo see the other three floating above him. Duo nearly laughed out loud in relief, they were here, and they were attempting the impossible. Heero had come for him, he was safe. His sensible side told him that it was impossible for them to get him out but Heero filled his mind and his vision. He saw Heero's lips move and lip-read him. He said, "I'm coming". Simple words, but they were like silent music to Duo's ears and he nodded, his head hurting again.

He saw Heero talk into his microphone and then move away, giving Duo one last anxious look before disappearing out. Heavyarms replaced him, Trowa waving at Duo before settling, to watch him, he guessed. The stars fought to claim him again, and he leant back in his chair, his eyes shut, fighting them. They wouldn't take him until he was in Heero's arms, they wouldn't.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Heero shook his head. He was feeling a little queasy, but seeing Duo had stirred him up to no end. He couldn't fail now. He couldn't black out, not now he had seen Duo alive. Nearly dead, but hanging on. He couldn't disappoint him now, the look in Duo's eyes when he had seen him felt like warm liquid to Heero, and, Wing positioned upside down, fastened the last catch on his breathing equipment.

"Heero, Heero?" came the communications from the headphones, he picked them up.

"What?"

"Hurry it up, he's losing consciousness." Trowa said, "A little longer and he'll black out. If he goes now, he won't wake up."

"Right. How long have I got?" Heero asked.

"An hour. Enough?"

"Hope so. Wish me luck. Over and out."

He put them down, and pushed down the face.

Good luck, Heero. Wing told him.

Thanks. Heero said, and then opened the hatch. He had stripped down to the trousers and boots, taking the shirt and jacket off for room. He knew it was going to be a tight fit, and anyway, Duo was going to be wet and freezing, he would need something dry to put around his shoulders. Staring down at the dark blue water, he tucked his elbows in. Light me, Wing. He reminded the humanoid and then jumped in.

The coldness of the water took his breath away and he spent a few minutes getting used to it. The goggles framed his vision. Finally, he started swimming. It was eerie. Five massive beings were in the water and he suddenly felt very small. He looked around as he swam toward Deathscythe's backpack. Wing was hanging, upside down, looking precarious. Deathscythe was lying back against the cliff wall, looking scarily dead. Heavyarms was right in front of it, almost touching, and he could see Trowa. Sandrock and Shenlong were hovering a little behind and above him. There were about six strong spotlights from each Gundam, and they were all on Deathscythe. One, from Wing, was aiming at the backpack, and Heero swam along the wide beam of light as fast as he could.

He felt totally dwarfed. The mere eyes of these massive things were nearly as big as him. His stomach protested as the eeriness settled in, but he ignored. Wing followed him so he in the middle of the spotlight, and he swam down to the bottom of the backpack. He knew this was dangerous. Gundams were unpredictable things. If Deathscythe woke, he would be toast, literally, the amazing power of Deathscythe's thrusters could come shooting down on him any second while he was in there.

He shoved this thought to the back of his head as he swam up into the engine. The water stopped, and he surfaced. He took the breathing equipment off and laid it on a ledge, hauling himself up on the ledge after them. He panted a bit, but calmed himself down. Deathscythe didn't have the oxygen to spare. He looked at his watch. He had fifty minutes to get through. If he got lost in here he would be lost forever, and Duo would die. No, he couldn't let that happen, and gritted his teeth in grim determination as he stood up carefully. He thought for a second. He had entered the left entrance, or exit as it should be. That meant he had to go up and slightly to the right, to end up in the middle.

He looked up. The barrel of the engine stretched up and up into blackness. Heero turned on the torch and shone it up. It didn't reach the end, and he tried to push the thought of looking up to see a red fire ball hurtling towards him at the speed of sound out of his head. The edges seemed un-climbable, and there was a little hole to the fuel tank. He would have to go that way to get to the middle. Concentrating his mind on keeping his bearings and Duo, he crawled through the tiny space.

He nearly choked; it smelt so strong of petrol. Nearly retching, he grimly thought of the boy he was trying to save and tried standing. He fiercely pushed down the panic when he realised he couldn't and, holding the torch in his teeth, he crawled along, flicking his eyes up to see if he could stand yet. Finally, there was a hole in the ceiling, tinier than the one he was in already. He stooped, lying on his back, and shone the torch upward. It was stifling in here. The hole was only about two feet across, and there were tiny metal rungs going up and up from when it had been built. Gritting his teeth and then putting the torch back in them, he knelt, sticking his head into the tiny, dark, almost suffocatingly hot space. With a jolt of panic, he shot his back out again and, seeing how confined the space was, started panicking. With the strength of a Gundam, he closed his eyes and his mind calmed itself. He couldn't do this, he couldn't…no, he could, it was for Duo. He opened his eyes, and his eye blazed in the torchlight. He would do anything for him right now. Gritting his teeth on the torch, he put his head in, the panic now confined to a strong prickling in his stomach, stopped from reaching his brain, and started to climb.

It was so dark, so stuffy he thought he really would die, but closed his eyes, and soon got his bearings enough to know the distance between the rungs and so did it blind, the only way he would do it without panicking. Now, after going for five minutes, he knew that to panic now would mean death. He had nowhere to go. He flipped his mind back to Duo as the panic fought his iron grip. He would not let this get to him. He pictured Duo when he found him. He would relax only when Duo was in his arms in Wing's cabin.

After ten minutes, his too accurate body clock told him, his heightened senses told him it had spaced out a bit. Fighting his ever-growing panic, he opened his eyes. He was blinded at first by the torch, but then, his eyes got used to it, and saw that there was a bend in the tunnel, and that it now went out to the side. Frowning to get his bearings, he knew that it went to Deathscythe's back, and that was good. On hands and knees, sweating from every pore, he crawled forward. Soon, the floor became grating, and he nearly dropped the torch. He looked up, and saw that the far ceiling was about three feet above him. Thankfully, he kneeled up, and once again closed his eyes to fight the panic. He was at the very top of the barrel. Three feet above him were the thrusters of Deathscythe, his death would at least be quick. His once again too-good bearings told him that this was the left barrel, the one had tried to climb before. He was just at the top now.

Opening his eyes again, he glanced at his watch. Half an hour until the oxygen ran out. He had to work fast. A sickening feeling in his stomach, he turned the torch downward and looked down. He couldn't see anything until, in the wall that separated the two barrels, he saw the square of an opening. That must go into the tunnel that leads to the maintenance room, he thought, and he knew what he had to do. The grating was in the middle, so he now sat, his legs over that side, breathing hard. When he was ready, he put the torch deep in his back pocket, zipping it right up. He was now in totally darkness.

He closed his eyes, and his bearings worked their fantastically accurate ways. It was about half way down, so it would take him roughly this long to fall there. He didn't trust them, though, so knew he had to be careful. He looked at the watch. Twenty-five minutes, it was now or never. He thought of Duo as hard as he could, and pushed off the grating. He raised his hands above his head and tried gripping the wall. It didn't work, he knew it wouldn't, but he didn't want to slow down. His stomach seemed to be in his mouth and his eyes were tightly clenched, his breath held. The millisecond his bearings said "now", he felt the edge scrape his stomach hard, and then his hands felt air and then gripped the edge. He let the breath go with a loud grunt as the jolt hit his strong bones. For a minute he just hung there, his stomach stinging, and his fingers straining. Then, with a grunt off effort, he started pulling upwards.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It had been too long. Duo looked at his watch. He had twenty-five minutes, and Trowa looked worried. Where was he? Duo felt the stars coming back, and re-programmed his brain to concentrate on stopping them and Heero. It took longer, more effort and caused more pain to stop them this time, but he knew he wouldn't wake up if he went now. Finally, they subsided a little, and he saw Trowa looking worriedly at him. Duo couldn't even grin to show him he was ok. This was mainly because he wasn't. He wanted to throw up, his head hurt, his whole body ached. He was tense in anticipation and his stomach was sick of it, his body hurt from being so tense, and it was so cold. He was tired to even shiver now though.

He was going, he knew it, he could find himself fading. Blackness started to go around his eyes. There wasn't enough oxygen in his lungs, but it took too much effort to breathe. He kept his eyes open, vigilantly. Tears filled his eyes, and a sob cracked through his body taking too much effort. He was scared, he was dying, he knew it, he was so scared, he didn't want to die. He had to see Heero; Heero was going to save him.

"Heero!" he croaked in a desperate sob., not hearing the gunshot.

"Duo!" came a voice. Duo frowned a little. The blackness faded a bit and he could see again. He saw him, Heero suddenly appeared in front of him, real, worried, but here. "Duo, I'm here." He said, but Duo wasn't concentrating. It took too much effort to breathe; he couldn't get any air into his lungs. He started panicking, his hands grabbing for something. Something found him first. He felt strong hands pull him forwards, and then his mouth was covered by something. Something warm, soft, moist, and full of…air. Someone was giving him air; he didn't need to do it himself. His stomach jolted as he realised what was happening. Heero was kissing him.

That thought woke him up a bit, and he suddenly needed more air than Heero could give him, and had the strength to do it. He, however reluctantly, pushed Heero away, and took a few massive gulps of air. As his sight returned, he almost cried out as Heero's hand covered his mouth, stopping him from gulping in the air. He looked up, slightly panicked into Heero's gorgeous eyes that were full of sorrow.

"I'm sorry, Duo." He whispered, "We don't have the oxygen."

Duo simply shook his head. He couldn't move, he knew that. Heero tried to get him up, but he couldn't, he didn't have the energy. Another frustrated sob came from his mouth. "Shush." Heero whispered, pushing his shoulders down. "It's alright."

Suddenly, Duo knew it wasn't. He grabbed Heero's arms, and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was Heero's face, looking deep into his own eyes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Duo collapsed in his arms. Heero felt the sudden disappearance of his stomach, but then Duo's chest went up and down. He was alive, but needed more oxygen than Heero or Deathscythe could give him. Determined of face, Heero lifted Duo into his arms with a grunt. He went out of the maintenance room, and his stomach jolted again as he remembered how they had to get out. It wasn't so bad this time, though. Duo's weight in his arms supported him, and his lingering touch on Heero's lips reminded him of why he had to get out now. He was not giving up on Duo now, not after all this. He walked through the room and the passage. He looked at the little hole, dreading it, but having no choice. He laid Duo out, and lowered himself through it, so he was resting on his arms.

Then, trusting his artificial strength that he was born with, he slowly slid Duo's unconscious body out beside him, so he had one hand round his waist. He looked at Duo's face in the dark. This could either save them or kill them both. Placing a firm kiss on Duo's forehead, he let go, flinging Duo's limp body up as he slid down. He got the torch and shone it down. He was fast approaching the end, and pushed the torch away so it fell with him, he looked up, and saw Duo's body above his. He got himself directly under him, and then waited.

His lightning fast reactions made him kick out when only half his body had fallen into the water. His eyes were open as he entered the water, stinging, but he didn't care. He was on his way up before Duo's body slammed into the water beside him creating a surge of bubbles. He grabbed him as he sped past him, and then shot them both up to the air. As his head broke water, he shook his head and held Duo up, grabbing the ledge. He only hoped the torch had heralded a signal that Wing would take. He knew he couldn't swim that length without air, and he was giving Duo all of it. He put the goggles on himself and then attached the air supply to Duo with difficulty. He placed the mask over Duo's mouth and heard the gentle suction sound as he breathed. Even like this, he was beautiful. Praying that what he had seen was the light getting stronger, he took a deep breath and dipped into the water, pulling Duo with him.

At first, his lungs screamed, but he calmed them as he swam, one arm pulling at the water, one arm around Duo's waist. To his delight, he saw that Wing was getting closer and closer. Duo was dragging him down in the water but he knew he could do this, this was what he had been trained for. He swam on and on, getting closer and closer. He heard the clang of metal on metal and knew that the second part of the plan was back in action. He reached the hatch, and pushed Duo up, gulping the breath he so desperately needed in a loud gasp.

He shoved the goggles off and pulled himself up into the cabin, closing the hatch. Wing immediately started turning the right way, and the depressurising unit, and Heero's ears had already popped by the time Wing had turned upright. Suddenly, he heard a cough, and his eyes brightened. The pure oxygen in the tank had woken Duo. He undid the air supply, and pulled him up into his lap as he knelt by him, his arms holding him up. Duo coughed and spluttered before his beautiful violet eyes fluttered open and rested on Heero's which smiled down at him.

"Welcome back." He said, warmly, his voice thick with relief.

"Heero?" Duo croaked, "I…I'm not…dead?"

"No, Duo. You're in Wing, on your way back to the surface."

"Deathscythe..?"

"Being taken up by the other three."

"Show me." Duo asked. Heero's eyes smiled down at him, and then gently, he picked him up and went to the window.

Duo stared out of the window as Heero stood by the window, holding Duo up with one arm. They watched in awe as Shenlong went one side, Sandrock went the other and Heavyarms went to Deathscythe's feet. They heard orders being told through the headphones, but weren't really listening. It was a truly amazing sight to see three massive humanoids carrying the fourth very slowly up. Wing went up, too, a little faster, and their ears had popped a few more times before they broke the surface. The light beeped to tell them they were back at normal pressure and Duo felt the coldness of fresh air as Wing was finally allowed to get more. They watched as the Gundams bobbed above the surface before very slowly coming out of the water, perfectly done. Duo imagined how hard it must be.

He suddenly shivered, and felt Heero lean away from him. He let go of him, and shoved his jacket around his shoulders before wrapping his arms around him. Duo snuggled up to him, his head resting on Heero's chest as Heero gripped him tightly. Duo smelt his musty smell, felt his arms around him, and remembered his promise to himself. His fantasy that he had relived again and again in Deathscythe's cabin. It had happened. Heero had come to save him, Heero had come for him, and now Heero was holding him. He snuggled in even deeper.

"I'm not going to let go, Duo." Heero said. As if he had anything to prove!

"Thank you." Duo said, simply, and felt Heero's arms tighten again. He closed his eyes, simply revelling in being out of Deathscythe, out of the sea, and in Heero's arms. Wing slowly lifted off and lent a hand to the others and they made their slow way back to the hanger, the two boys staying where they were like they had been carved there.