16: A bleak Situation
(End of heartache lyrics belong to killswitch engage)
Seek me
Call me
I'll be waiting (x2)
This distance
This dissolution
I cling to memories while falling
Sleep brings release
And the hope of a new day
Waking the misery of being without you
Surrender, I give in
Another moment is another eternity
(Seek me) For comfort
(Call me) For solace
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
(Seek me) Completion
(Call me) I'll be waiting
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
You know me
You know me all too well
My only desire to bridge our division
In sorrow I speak your name
And my voice mirrors
Mirrors my torment
Seek me) For comfort
(Call me) For solace
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
(Seek me) Completion
(Call me) I'll be waiting
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
His chest burned as if it were on fire, his eyes grew heavy from the burden of trying to delay the inevitable. His head rolled to the side so he could get a good look at his comrades, but the room had become so bleak and blurry that he could hardly see a thing through his eyes. Duo blinked wearily wishing there was some air to breathe when someone's hand grasped his shoulder, he felt the strain of the person's hand tighten on his shoulder as they pulled themselves over closer to him.
Groaning he turned his head toward the person just as he leant his body up against the wall beside the door next to him. "T-Trowa, is that you?" Duo blurted wearily. "Y-yeah," Trowa replied almost as weakly. Duo smiled lifting his head from up against the door blinking for a moment to relieve the fogginess in his eyes that seemed remain no matter what he did. When he tried lifting his arm from upon his lap it flopped back down onto his leg as though it were made of led, Duo frowned before shifting his sore eyes toward the outline of Trowa's body.
"You the only one still awake? Are the others still awake?" He asked uncertain. Trowa closed his eyes and listened for any sort of movement from Quatre or Wufei but from the still silence that surrounded him and Duo he began to think that they passed out from the lack of air. "No, not a peep," Trowa grumbled his eye lids growing heavy. Duo cursed under his breath figuring Wufei had been meditating when he passed out and Quatre just went out like a light bulb that died. That only left himself and Trowa, which didn't exactly help their case any. "I guess you were about Heero," Duo sighed.
Trowa coughed slightly glancing at the braided young man beside him. Right about Heero? No, he wasn't right about Heero, Duo was only saying this because that door had yet to open, Heero had yet to give them a reason to continue fighting for their lives, it was only natural that he would saying this. It didn't surprise Trowa in the least. "No ... no, I wasn't right. You were," Trowa whispered. "I'm sorry for hitting you." Duo laughed a bit wincing at the pain in his broken arm that he had been ignoring for over an hour or so.
Raising his uninjured arm he placed his hand on Trowa's shoulder with a hard slap making the tall Latin American grunt. "Should I be apologizing as well?" He asked in mock-uncertainty. Trowa chuckled shaking his head in disbelief. Duo was still making jokes even at death's door. "Feh--- you would be if you had said something offensive about Heero. I didn't break your jaw did I?" Duo made a sound that Trowa figured was a no to his question, it was good enough for him despite he didn't understand the sound. A moment of silence fell between them leaving Trowa alone with his thoughts.
He let his mind wander to Catherine and wondering if she had gotten away safely from those goons that captured him and Quatre. If not he'd kill them if they harmed her. Maybe not in body but in spirit, he would haunt them and drive them insane if God permitted that sort of thing. Gotta learn your manners while you're still young, Trowa could hear Catherine's voice so clearly now he began to think the lack of air was finally getting to him. He chuckled for a while before he felt Duo's hand slip away from his shoulder and hit the ground with a rough plunk.
Trowa's heart skipped a beat at the echoing sound that bounced off the walls of the empty room. "Hey Duo, you still with me?" He asked hoarsely. When Duo didn't respond Trowa climbed off the ground and placed himself on his knees while he gripped his friend's shoulders, he removed Duo from against the wall expecting the braided American to hold his own weight. Duo's head fell forward his chin touching his collar bone, Trowa's brow furrowed in his dismay before lying Duo gently to the ground. "Alone again," He said looking up at the door with a frown. You better prove me wrong, Heero, or we'll come back to haunt you, Trowa groaned lying on the ground next to Duo's still form. Closing his eyes he exhaled all the breath he had left in him.
Relena loved the fact that she was now able to roam about without being restricted to the dreaded pipe and was also happy she could sit down where she pleased, but she was unhappy with the fact that she was still inside the blasted cell with Hilde and Dorothy still unconscious from whatever had did it to them. She sighed placing herself on the ground beside Hilde's small feet, her arms wrapped around her legs pull against her chest. Her eyes wandered the uncharacteristic cell before looking down at her short haired friend.
Wherever Hilde was inside that mind of hers Relena hoped it was much better than where they were right now. Relena smiled weakly; she found herself waiting for Heero again, waiting was what she did best, but why exactly did she wait for anyone in her life? All of her childhood she waited for so many things and had been partly answered and given to her during the war, but the others had yet to be answered.
But those questions were now long forgotten memories in Relena's mind that unfortunately the young woman could not bring up any longer. Blowing into her bangs Relena turned herself around so that her side was facing Hilde and Dorothy then laid down with her arms underneath her head. Her blue eyes stared up at the ceiling void of any indication that she was thinking of anything. Relena sighed again, knowing for certain she was growing restless waiting for someone to come to her and her friend's rescue. Her brow wrinkled as she tried to smother the feeling of restlessness inside of her when the sound of the door hissing open.
Relena jumped to her feet ready to greet Heero with a serious but thankful smile and readied her cow prodder behind her back it if wasn't Heero. She placed herself beside the door and shut off the lights off before anyone noticed they were one. As if someone read her mind, Margaret instead of Heero, stepped inside followed by two three soldiers wielding guns from what she could see. Oh, God this isn't my day, Relena thought wearily raising her arm up. Once Margaret walked out of the way Relena attacked the nearest solider and rammed the cow prodder into his chest sending to the ground in a convulsing heap, the other two raised their guns toward Relena turning on their flashlights upon their machine guns.
Relena froze in her place dropping the cow prodder, the second solider turned on the light and Relena kicked herself for being such a coward in such a situation. Margaret came up to the young honey-blonde woman with a grin staring down at the cow prodder then at the solider on the ground. "I can only guess who gave you that," Margaret muttered smirking. Relena glared at her before she was pulled out of the room by the two soldiers. "Take her down the missile area, we're going to destroy this place before the Preventers get here."
The two men nodded in response and dragged an unwilling Relena down the hall to the elevator that would take them down to the missile area. Margaret kneeled down and pulled the fallen solider off the ground, he still seemed to be shaking from the shock but Margaret barely noticed at all. "Grab those two, and take them down to the missile area as well if you heard," Margaret grumbled walking out of the room. The solider shook his head quickly looking down at the two beautiful women in front of him wondering how he was going to get them down to the missile area without dragging them? Shrugging the man grabbed Hilde and Dorothy by their ankles and dragged them out of the room down the hall toward the elevator.
Catherine sat on the couch with a blanket and cup of herbal tea in her hand, beside her Ryuusei laid on her side slumbering dreaming of something that made her smile. Catherine looked behind her and spotted Zechs inside the kitchen with a laptop tapping away at the key board with a care in the world, his eyes set intently on the screen his fingers moved with lightening action. Catherine was almost amazed the similarities of Zechs and Trowa's typing speed.
It was almost as fasts as Trowa's but a sluggish when it hit some letters or numbers, Catherine knew that much from hanging around the stoic young man and was proud of her skills. Catherine sighed turning back around. The brown haired girl looked down at her steaming cup with a look of dismay, she could couldn't shake the horrible feeling that had been welling up inside her stomach since she arrived at the cabin. It wasn't the state of the cabin that bothered her, no, it was something else.
Her heart throbbed with a dull pain that didn't so much as hurt compared to the cold that had yet to leave her body, groaning the 19-year-old leaned back in the couch placing her hand upon her chest feeling the beat of her heart. She wondered if Trowa was all right or if he had done away with all the soldiers that came upon them, it was probably silly for her to be thinking he couldn't take down a couple dozen guys in black. He was a---- ex-Gundam pilot but still retained his skills from the war just in case. Catherine did her best to keep it from worrying her but the throbbing in her heart wouldn't cease so she continued to worry.
"Are you all right in there, you seem upset?" Zechs' voice caused the young woman to jump. She turned to find him still inside the kitchen his eyes focused on the screen still. "H-how did you-- how do you know there's something bothering me?" Catherine asked astonished. Zechs smirked his eyes still on the laptops screen. "Your the only one awake in that room, Ryuusei as you call her is sleeping. I can practically hear you thinking," Zechs grumbled. Catherine's mouth almost dropped open in shock had it not been for Zechs' blue eyes shifting toward her.
"I'm not psychic if that's what your thinking, I just happen to sense tension coming from you," Zechs explained briefly before returning to his work. Catherine sighed flopping against the couch again. "I'm just worried about the others," She said and then explained the entire situation that passed before he showed up and rescued her and Ryuusei. Zechs simply grunted in annoyance at the thought of Relena being kidnapped again and that the Gundam pilots didn't do anything to help her. Pushing those thoughts of his mind Zechs continued to tap at the keyboard of his laptop until the information scrolling across his screen was replaced with a black image and numbers in alarm clock font appeared, counting backward.
"39:29:00 .......until mountain region Alliance Military base self-destructs, thought you might wanna know Une..., M.C." The message read. Zechs' eyes widened in fear and disbelief. Acting quickly the blonde rerouted all the information from his laptop to Noin's pompilot praying to God that she had it with her, Catherine turned her head half way wondering what the blonde 22-year-old was so upset about. "What's wrong?" Catherine asked worriedly. Zechs closed his laptop and rushed out of the kitchen running past the couch dropping a gun in Catherine's lap. "If anyone untrustworthy comes around, use that thing," Zechs explained ready to jump out of the door way. Catherine looked down at the gun then at him clearly confused.
"Wha-- where are you going?" She asked. "To stop a bomb," He answered shutting the cabin door behind him. Catherine placed her tea onto the coffee table in front of her before picking up the gun to examine it. She stared at its shining black exterior in question before the sounds of the Tallgese taking off despite the damage it sustained in its side reached her ears. Frowning the young girl placed the gun back on her lap and her fingers intertwined and her palms rested against each other. God please watch over my friends and Trowa. I couldn't bare to loose any of them.
As the Tallgese sluggishly soared through the air Zechs rested in the cockpit with his hands gripping the controls. "Noin you better have your pompilot with you," He growled.
Heero ducked inside a dimly lit room unable to make it around the corner in time. The soldiers were right on his tail despite how much ground he covered, he punched in a code and the door slammed shut just as the men came up the hall. He glanced at Jin's pale face as he maneuvered through a small space between two stainless steel operating tables ignoring the blood running down the side of his neck. He dropped Jin onto the table on the right that resided below a flickering light with no shade to focus the light into one place.
Heero pulled the ruined down jacket he rented off his shoulders tossing it to the ground, he grimaced slightly at the blood that managed to get on his blue sweater but had no time to worry about a ruined piece of cloth on his back. Jin was his first the thing he had to take care of. The 17-year-old rummaged through the class cabinets for any sort of suturing equipment so he could stitch Jin's side up before he bled to death from his incompetence. Heero averted his eyes toward Jin: the Korean did not stir, his eyebrows didn't even twitch, Jin laid as still a corpse. Heero did his best to ignore the blood seeping onto the table over its edge and onto the floor, staring at it wasn't going to help their situation any.
After a several minutes of searching Heero finally found a slightly moderate suturing kit with antiseptics, moving quickly he headed over beside Jin. "Jin, Jin wake up," Heero hissed under his breath slapping the boy in the face. Jin's head rolled to the side, Heero glared and slapped him again. Jin still, did not respond. "Damnit," Heero growled unscrewing the top off of the bottle of antiseptic. Heero dumped a portion of the antiseptic onto Jin's injury, the boy's eyes snapped open. Heero frowned expecting at least a scream from the boy, leaning over he stared into the bloodshot onyx blue eyes full of confusion.
Jin's eyes began to grow heavy and threatened to close but Heero grabbed his face causing the boy to shift his gaze toward him. "--'Tousan...? Heero?" He mumbled weakly, his eyes widening. "Jin, its Heero. I need you to stay awake, I can't have you blacking out on m---- Jin stay awake!" Heero snapped shaking the boy again. Jin's mouth parted and closed numerous times but he found himself unable to form any sort of speech, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was once again oblivious to the world around him. Heero's hands gripped Jin's head in frustration, letting him go Heero focused his attention on Jin's bleeding side.
Placing his hand underneath his sweater he pulled his arms from underneath it along with his undershirt, pulled the cotton shirt up over his head before slipping his arms back into his sweater. He pressed it against Jin's side to stop the bleeding, Jin moaned momentarily, Heero knew he was probably unaware of anything going around him. The Japanese teenager grunted in annoyance when he noticed his undershirt was nearly redder than the blood itself, he just wouldn't stop bleeding! You better hope the others are still alive Jin, I'm wasting considerable time on you. A moment later Heero removed the bloody undershirt from Jin's side throwing it to the ground thankful Jin had stopped bleeding finally, grabbing the cuff of his sweater Heero tore it off from the rest of the sweater and soaked it in antiseptic then began to dab the injury.
Jin whimpered trying to roll on his side but Heero prevented all such movement as he continued to disinfect it, Jin's face was drenched in sweat his face wrinkled in disgust and he swatted the air at an unknown enemy. Finished, Heero opened the suturing kit and grabbed the needle and laced the thread through the small loop. Carefully he began to feed the needle through Jin's skin and out again until the wound was completely closed. Heero cut the barely visible thread placing the bloody needle onto the table behind him, he whipped his brow with his forearm admiring his handy work.
Jin's side was covered with dried blood as was his shirt, Heero began to wonder where he was going to hide the young boy until he returned. I'll have to put him somewhere, Heero thought lifting the boy off the table, Jin groaned as Heero scooted from out of the small pathway between the tables over to a tall cabinet residing in the shadows. Heero sized Jin up before coming to the conclusion that the cabinet was big enough to fit Jin inside. Heero let Jin's legs drop to the floor while he opened the cabinet door he then shoved (not literally) the young Korean inside the cabinet and shut the door. After making sure the door wouldn't swing open, Heero went over to his jacket.
Heero grabbed his gun, he checked to see if there were enough bullets before heading over to the door. Punching in the code the door opened and Heero could hear the footfalls of the soldiers that he ran from coming back his way. Knowing the door would lock itself automatically, the Japanese teenager rushed in their direction switching the safety off his gun. He slid across the floor colliding with wall he aimed his gun toward the three men in front of him and shot them all in the legs and wrists with quick effortless precision. The soldiers fell to the ground howling in pain grasping their injuries not caring if they had dropped their weapons, Heero walked over to them, picked all their weapons up by their leather straps and headed back up the hall rounding the corner. He had to get to the control room before it was too late, he simply could not afford to loose any his friends. He blinked a few times feeling his pupils dilate when he entered the dark part of the hall. Heero continued onward with a sense of dread dawning over him.
Noin watched as they flew overhead the winter resort her eyes sparkled with a sort of excitement she hadn't felt since she was a child on Christmas. "Noin!" Une's voice brought the young woman to the present, she turned her head toward the German woman in front of her with a questioning look. "We're about to land, please remain seated." The dark haired woman nodded sitting back, pulling her gun out its holster.
She turned her head upward spotting the mobile suit carrier coming down from the clouds once they were away from public eyes. It landed in an empty space surrounded by trees. The helicopters followed suit making Noin wonder even more about Zechs' well being until the sensation of something vibrating in her jacket pocket, with eyebrows raised she reached into her pocket pulling out her pompilot. She turned the light of the screen and was left speechless when she read the e-mail address: It was from Zechs! Grabbing the pen off the side of her pompilot she pressed on the small envelope icon around the time the helicopter landed beside the carrier.
Noin
The Alliance military base is going to self-destruct, hurry and get there soon, you haven't got much time!
Zechs
Noin looked below the letter and found a timer counting backward. Her eyes widened in fear as she unbuckled herself and leapt out of the seat, she dashed through the snow passing Une by just as the mobile suit carrier's cargo door opened. She watched as she mobile suit was unloaded from the carrier on the mobile suit vehicle carrier. When it stopped Noin leaped onto of the truck pulling herself up onto the mobile suit's body. Une watched in confusion as her partner climbed into her mobile suit vanishing from sight wondering what Noin learned that would make her act in such a way? "Noin, what's wrong?!" Une shouted as the Tarus mobile suit arose to its feet. Noin activated the com-link on her Tarus quickly while the other operations loaded up. "I got a message from Zechs, saying that the Alliance Military base is going to self-destruct, we don't have much time!" Noin shouted over the com-link. Une's eyes widened in shock the world was shut out from her awakening what she thought had vanished several years ago.
Her eyes narrowed reflecting the seriousness of her expression. As Noin rocketed into the air on her Tarus in flight mode, Une marched back to the helicopter. "Get this thing moving, we're heading to the base sooner than expected," Une announced sternly. "The rest of you follow suit!" The pilot nodded and began to the necessary operations to start the helicopter while Une jumped aboard seating herself in the back. The helicopter rotors began to twirl at an incredible rate, the pilot lifted the machine off the ground and they took off after Noin. Une readied her gun a scowl upon her face. If anything, she was going to put a stop to this once and for all.
Hilde groaned in pain forcing her eyes to open, her body ached all over as if she had crashed on the moon inside of LEO suit, she barely even remembered how she ended up where she was in the first place. The last thing she remembered was asking a man why they wanted to capture Duo so badly before being thrown into sweet oblivion, now all she could hear were sirens blaring overtop of her and soft spoken tones coming from someone in front of her. Oh my God---- Hilde's eyes snapped open the moment she tried rise from whatever she leaning against but was yanked back down by an unknown force. "Duo?!" She cried frantically scanning her surroundings.
There was a small chuckle Hilde averted her eyes toward the origin of the sound and found herself staring at Dorothy Catalonia handcuffed to the railing enclosing a very large missile, Hilde's mouth parted in fear as she realized, that she too, was also handcuffed to the same railing. She looked around her; they were inside a room meant to keep Missiles inside until the time came to use them! "Oh my God," She muttered aloud, her hand over her mouth. Dorothy nodded in agreement. "My exact words, Miss Schbeiker," The blonde mused. "I believe we don't have long until the base explodes taking us with it. Do we Miss Relena?"
Hilde and Dorothy leaned over spotting Relena in the middle of the room handcuffed to the largest missile inside the room with grim expression. "No, I don't believe so, Dorothy," Relena replied quietly. Hilde knew better than to panic, but she couldn't help herself in that moment, she had no idea what had happened to Duo or if he was even alive. Now she was going to die with no answers to her question which bothered her.
She glanced at Dorothy who surprisingly appeared to remain calm despite their situation. Sighing the German girl sat herself onto the railing beside Dorothy. Dorothy in turn smiled at the smaller framed girl beside her. "You needn't worry about Duo Maxwell, if anything, he's probably already been liberated from this world," Dorothy sighed throwing her hair behind her back. Hilde scowled at the blonde holding back the urge to grab her by the neck and tell her otherwise. Duo wasn't dead, he and the others were probably looking for them right now. She hoped.
Heero skidded to a halt in front of the door to the control room, he panted heavily having ran for endless miles through the corridors of the base dodging fallen support beams and other things that had removed itself from the building's inside structure. He jogged inside the room spotting the control panel stepping up to it he grasped the control that operated the air system inside the cells.
Please don't be dead, He prayed mentally pulling the handle downward. For a moment time seemed to have stopped; the blinking light went from red to a vibrant blue a second flat causing a small smile to grace Heero's features. Moving quickly he turned to leave the room, he stopped mid-step surprised to see Margaret standing in front of him holding a gun in her hand aimed at his chest. "Ja ne, Heero Yuy," She whispered pulling the trigger.
(TBC......)