Heero POV

All my time after the battle was dedicated to Duo. The memory of watching that man plunge a sword into my beloved still haunts me to this very. I will never forget that look on Duo's face. When he was stabbed, he wasn't even looking at his opponent; he was looking at me, like he wanted his last sight to be of me. It told me all I needed to know bout the situation; that Duo had purposefully put himself between the attacker and me, giving his life for mine. I tried to be angry at him, but found I couldn't I would have done the same thing in his place. And I couldn't get mad at him for not trusting me because I wouldn't have seen my attacker until it was already to late.

The battle stopped when Duo was stabbed. Not to say that everyone stopped fighting, simply to say that the battle no longer mattered to me; only Duo did. I had to carry him to the medical wing. The bleeding was so bad that I almost dropped him several times, his skin became so slick with blood. There was nothing I could do for him on the battlefield, so I forgot about him; that is, I forgot about him as a person and thought of him only in an objective way. It kept me from breaking down, but made me feel like some kind of monster. I think, though, I had to be a monster at that time, to walk passed all those people who needed my help and do nothing for them. A couple times fighters fell in to me, and once a pair fell into me so heavily that I had to turn to keep Duo from falling and landing on the hard floor, spraining my wrist in the process.

Sally did what she could for Duo then put the both of us in a small room. She didn't think Duo would wake any time soon, so she made me wash up before she would let me see him. When I did see him, I was almost afraid to go up and touch him. He seemed so pale, so fragile, lying there in that bed. I feared that he would break into a thousand pieces if I touched him, but I couldn't help myself. I had to make sure he was real.

Sally allowed me to sleep in the medical wind with him that night and every night after. In truth, there was nothing she could do. I would not be removed short of physical violence, and perhaps not even then. I found that both Quatre and Wufei had been mildly injured, but I couldn't bring myself to leave Duo alone long enough to check on them. I was afraid that he would wake while I was gone and try to search for me, further injuring himself. I didn't need to worry, though, since Quatre insisted on seeing me soon after he woke.

I could tell that all was not right between the two the minute they entered the door. Quatre was pretty much his usual self, but there was something about him, some forced mirth, some energy that had been redirected my way, that didn't seem quite right. Trowa, though he barely shows any emotions at all, seemed a bit more quiet than usual, a bit more reclusive, though he did nothing out of the ordinary.

The two managed to pry me away from Duo for a bath and a hot meal. I wasn't really sure how long it had been since my last bath; the last one I could remember taking was taken right after I washed the blood out of Duo's wings, I had needed to wash it off of myself before I became sick. I admit that while I was watching over Duo I seemed to have lost all sense of time. My life was measured only in Duo's even breaths and the plates of food Sally repeatedly handed to me, time meant nothing. The only other times I left Duo's side were to bathe, to use the bathroom, and, of course, to attend Master O's memorial.

I spent much of my time while Duo was unconscious sleeping beside him. I, too, was tired from the long battle. The scratches and sprain I had gained during the battle had all been fixed, though I wasn't completely sure when, by Sally or one of her aids. I think, though that I really needed to feel Duo's heart beating against my own more than I needed to sleep.

I found my sleep beside Duo wasn't as restful as it usually was. Nightmares plagued me, of course, but there was more than that. I would wake up sore every morning, and I night a pain in my back woke me and forced me to stand and stretch the sore muscles. I wrote it off as the uncomfortable bed and made a note to tell Duo about it when he woke up. I knew he'd make fun of me for getting old, even though I was younger than he was.

Duo awoke in typical Duo fashion, automatically assuming, despite all evidence to the contrary, that I was the one injured. He made sure I was alright and managed to grope me all at the same time. I was so relieved that he was back, the same old Duo I loved with all my heart, that I could have cried. I didn't, though, because crying was difficult for me and I had found that my tears trigger a reaction in Duo which makes him want to shelter me, and I would be damned if he got to pamper me when he was hurt. I planned to pamper him until he wished for a painful death.

The fact that Duo fell asleep when I insisted that he nap told me more about his condition than I would have liked to know. Duo gets relatively little sleep and generally spends extra amounts of time eating when recovering, not sleeping. I knew when he fell back into that exhausted sleep that it was going to take a bit for him to get better, but I was willing to go the distance.

I was able to take Duo back to our room the next day and I thanked the stars for that. I think Duo might have needed that safe feelings our room provided, but I know I needed to have Duo in those safe surroundings.

I put off telling Duo about Master O for as long as I could. I was afraid that he would have some kind of fit and hurt himself, but the time finally came when I couldn't put it off any monger and I had to tell Duo the truth. I think my suggestion of a group trip to see Master O's grave was more out of fear that Duo would try to find him alone than actual want to go. When I thought it over later, however, I came to the conclusion that this trip was probably the best option for healing the wounds Master O's death had brought. It was actually a very sound idea, though I wasn't sure that I wanted Duo to attempt a flight that long, carrying me, with that healing wound. Still, I could tell it was important trip for Duo, so I planned to hold my tongue as long as Sally cleared the flight.

It was disturbing to find that, though we were back in our room, the pain in my back continued. I had thought that when we returned to our own, comfortable bed my back would stop hurting and I would be able to sleep better. Unfortunately, I was still unable to sleep and the pain in my back began to get worse. There were times at night when I would have to risk waking Duo by getting up to try and walk the pain out. That method seemed to be working less and less as the days went by. I began to think that maybe I had torn something in my back while carrying Duo all that way and decided that if the pain didn't stop soon I would go to Sally. I was reluctant because I didn't want Duo to have a reason to take his attention off of healing himself and I didn't want him to feel bad if my carrying him had hurt my back, but something needed to be done about the pain.

It was lucky for me that Duo was so tired and worried about the coronation and trip, or he certainly would have noticed sooner that my back was hurting me. As it was, he didn't notice my pain until after Chase's coronation while I was helping him up the stairs.

It was not as late as I think Duo would have liked to have stayed when we left the party, but it was by no means early. The sun was just peaking over the horizon when Duo fell asleep in his chair, heading face first into the bowl of punch some drunken royal had left at our table. I would like to think, at least I hope, Duo would have been able to extricate himself from the bowl alone after a moment of confused spasming. I wasn't about to give him that moment and pulled him from the bowl myself, ruling out any possibility of drowning. I insisted that we leave the party, something Duo moped a bit about but was too happy that no one had seen his swim to protest. I realized what he must have been feeling when Treize and Wufei sent the guest of honor to bed at the same time, but there was nothing to be done. Duo needed sleep.

Getting Duo up the stairs was a trail because he as constantly swaying back and forth, leaning on me. My back was still hurting from standing then sitting in wood chairs all day and I wasn't able to support Duo's weight. When I swayed away from Duo as he came toward me he caught on that something was wrong.

"Hey, what's that matter?" he asked as I regained my balance.

"Nothing," I dodged.

"Don't lie to me," Duo said in a tone that I knew not to mess with.

"My back hurts, that's all."

"What happened?"

"I hurt it in the battle." Not technically a lie, since I had been dumb enough to pick him up and carry him around like that.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't bad enough to bother you with." Nothing short of internal bleeding is bad enough to bother you with while you're injured.

"How bad is it?"

"Not too bad." I'm still walking, after all.

"Have you seen Sally?" Of course. I saw Sally while you were in the hospital many times, I just didn't tell her about this.

"Is it getting worse?"

"Not lately." It's been hurting like a bitch all month.

"You shouldn't have carried me all over the place like that. You could have really hurt yourself." ...I did really hurt myself.

"I was a little preoccupied at the time." You would prefer I had left you to bleed to death?

"I love you so much. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"The feeling is mutual."

"I know, but still. You don't take care of yourself as well as you should. I worry."

"You're the one that needs taken care of right now," I said, grateful that we had finally made it to the room. "Let's get you into bed."

"Maybe I could give you a back massage?"

"Don't even think about it. You're going to sleep. I'm not the one injured, you are. Now, into bed."

"Yes captain overprotective!"

It wasn't long before Duo was sound asleep, curled up on his side and snoring lightly, a sign of how tired he really was. I sat up for a while, but it wasn't even half an hour before I decided to go to bed. I had just gotten undressed and was walking to the bed when a sudden spasm in my back brought me to my knees.

The pain was so intense that I couldn't breathe. It was like a hot wire under the skin of my back connecting my shoulder blades to my tail bone and pulling them together. My back arched and I tried to gather air into my lungs but I couldn't. I couldn't even scream. I thought I was going to bend until my feet touched my head and my spine snapped under the pressure.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, the cord released, gradually letting me come out of that position. The pain faded to the dull throb that I had grown used to and the air rushed back into my lungs as I took heavy, gulping breaths. I took a minute to get my breath before sitting up slowly, cautious not to provoke another attack.

Duo was still asleep in the bed. In his exhausted state he had managed to sleep right through my attack and I was grateful that he had been spared that scene. I knew that, had he seen that, he would have gone to pieces and panicked, dragging me down to see Sally when he really should have been resting.

Not to say that I wasn't going to see Sally, because I knew by that time that it would be foolish to ignore the problem any longer. Whatever was wrong with me was definitely getting worse and could cause permanent damage if not dealt with soon. I would, however, be able to downplay my pain so that Duo wouldn't fret so much. Perhaps I would sneak out while he was sleeping, to give him even less to worry about.

It proved more difficult that I thought to sneak away from Duo the next morning. I had forgotten that I was scheduled to go on patrols with Trowa since Duo was now recovering well. I thought about trying to get out of it, since I was certain Trowa could handle another day on his own, but attempting to get out of it while hiding my reason from Duo seemed like more effort than it was worth, so I decided just to go and get it over with. I doubted that anything would happen anyway.

I was proved wrong when Trowa and I spotted a thief, an adult one who stole from an elderly man running a fruit stand in the market. The thief spotted us and tried to run for it, giving way to a chase that led us through alleys, pubs, houses, streets, and eventually into the sewer system.

This wasn't, however, the kind of sewer I was used to. I had never seen the sewers that were open; I had only been exposed to the ones kept in tunnels of large tubes. This sewer was more of a large drain, mainly one center drainage ditch the syphoned mostly rainwater away from the city. It wasn't any more or less unclean than the tubes had been, but it was more moist because of evaporation precipitating from the open water. That caused the paths we ran down to be slick with moisture, and both Trowa and I almost fell several times.

It told me that our thief was getting desperate to lose us by taking that path since he was no more adept at treading the slippy surface than we were. When the path abruptly became narrower he seemed just as surprised as we were.

It was too dangerous Trowa and I to try to run so close on a path that was only about a foot wide, so Trowa used a small bridge to cross to the other side of the canal, only falling a but behind the thief and me. Trowa's movement also had the added benefit of cutting of an exit if the thief decided at some time to try crossing to the other side.

The slick terrain the thief had chosen proved to be his undoing as the thief finally slipped and fell on the damp track. Once on the ground the thief gave minimal resistance to being arrested, too tired from the long run to do anything but flail weakly at me.

I was just urging the thief off the ground when another attack hit me. I managed to take a startled gasp before all the air was forced from my lungs. Trowa, who had been walking up from a bridge not too far down the path, ran up to see what was the matter and found me on the ground in agony and the thief casually making his way toward the exit.

The pain was, if possible, worse than before, if for no reason greater than it lasted longer. The pain blocked my sense of sight and sound and I was only aware of what I could feel. I couldn't see Trowa kneeling next to me, but I could feel his hand on my shoulder. I couldn't hear him asking me what happened, but I could feel his hands tracing for wounds. Somehow, that feeling of not being alone, that knowledge that there was someone there to help, made the second attack a little less difficult to bear.