Author: Sparkle Itamashii

Title: Inheritance

Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing A/C is NOT MINE.


Chapter Twenty Six

I was sharply aware of Trowa's hands and the way his fingers dug into my muscles as he hauled me back inside the relative safety of the hallway. The hiss of the door bit into my senses before Trowa locked the door shut and everything became muffled and fuzzy. It was hard to remember to breathe; I could feel the bullet under my skin and it induced a certain amount of panic. My jaw ached from keeping it clenched so tightly but I knew that if I released it I would only make the situation worse by shouting. My pant leg was soaked in blood and I was internally grateful that I couldn't actual see the viscous liquid against the black of my clothing. It was on my hands, though, and it was on Trowa's hands and on the floor; my shoe left a print sketched in blood upon the metal floor. It didn't go past the doorway; small mercy that that was.

"Duo, pay attention. Can you hear me?" Trowa asked. I focused my attention on him, fighting off the shock that was seizing up my body's functioning. Even though I could hardly feel the pain for the adrenaline coursing through my system, just seeing the blood made it hurt on principle. "Duo?"

I made a noise that didn't sound human as I unclenched my jaw, allowing myself a few deep breaths to calm down before I attempted an answer. "Get it out," I managed at last before my jaw tightened again almost of its own free will. "Get the shot out," I spat through my teeth.

He looked away and I turned my head in time to see Heero rounding the corner, weapon in hand and blood flecked across his front; he'd shot someone at very close range. "Heero!" Trowa called, then turned his attention back to me. "I don't know if I can, Duo. You're already bleeding badly."

Heero cursed as soon as he saw the quantity of blood spilt on the ground. The metal door was being hassled from the outside but they were nowhere near close to getting in; I could hear them shouting about a changed entry code. "Can you walk?"

"Not with a fucking bullet in my leg, jackass," I snapped, eyes closing and nose wrinkling as I attempted to get my leg under me again to stand. It wasn't working even a little bit. Some people may be able to run around with a broken leg like it was nothing but I was not one of them nor did I care to try to be.

He passed his gun to Trowa and took his place beside me, kneeling on one knee. We had known each other long enough, seen each other hurt often enough, to know that I didn't mean any insult I gave when injured. "Shirt in your mouth," he ordered firmly, touching his fingers delicately to the edge of the wound. Blood seeped out and pain stabbed up and down the muscles in my leg.

Panic turned my stomach as I realized that he was actually going to take the bullet out right here. Trowa must have realized it as well because he disappeared down the hall to look for bandages. I stuffed the edge of my jacket into my mouth to keep from biting my own tongue and closed my eyes. Heero placed one hand on my kneecap and leaned on it to stop me in case I thrashed and a moment later my entire world consisted of a red blaze of pain behind my eyes and a nauseating sensation that began at the bullet-wound and spread. I think I screamed, I must have screamed, but I can't remember.

Seconds later I gasped as I heard the clink-clatter of a bullet spiraling across the metal floor and Heero was wrapping my thigh in the yellow-white bandages with which Trowa had returned. His hand was covered in my blood. "What are you going to do about the blood?" Trowa asked from a little way down the hall, where he'd begun to keep lookout.

"We can't leave it," Heero said firmly as he began tearing the bloody part of my pantleg off, starting from the bullet hole. "We don't have time to clean it up, but we can't leave it. We'll just have to… it'll have to be destroyed."

"Blow the whole place?" Trowa questioned softly as Heero and I traded boots; my bloody one for his clean one. He would have to get another clean pair after he'd blown this place.

"Can't be helped," Heero replied as he helped me get painfully to my feet. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off already. "You'll have to take the back exit. It'll spit you out on 24th and Maple Street. There is a hospital two blocks right of the exit; get him in and I'll meet you there."

I almost told him I didn't need a fucking hospital, but I didn't think that particular moment was a good one to start lying. We were taking a risk even thinking of going to such a public place without knowing the state of public affairs anymore, but I knew that I was going to need help if I didn't stop bleeding soon. Already crimson was flowering across the rapid bandaging job Heero had done and I was getting light headed; somewhere in the back of my mind was the creeping fear that they had hit an artery. If the bullet had, I had a very short while before the blood loss would become a serious problem. I would have to make the best of the situation if I wanted to live through it.

"What name?" I asked tiredly, shrugging off his hands. I couldn't very well use any of our 'real' names, especially if we were on the run.

"Goodwin," Heero answered almost instantly. The irony of the obviousness of the name was not lost on me but I kept my mouth shut. "Don't give them a first name." He looked to Trowa then and thought for half a second. "Leave no blood behind, understand? I'll get there as quickly as possible."

Though he looked a little uncomfortable as he agreed, he did agree. Heero stayed still long enough to watch Trowa help me hobble halfway across the lab toward the back entrance before he practically disappeared into the shadows to begin. After that my world narrowed to my ability to stay on my feet and keep moving. The back door was locked and through it there was another locked door, but both were able to be opened with DNA coding. The tunnel that wound away from us was dark; not even footlights broke the shadows of the long, dark passage as we moved down it.

I don't remember the rest of the journey to the hospital. I mean, I remember being conscious and I remember Trowa talking to me and I remember every other step I took hurting but there is a big, black space between the end of the exit tunnel and the shiny, glass doors of the hospital. I remember standing in the entrance with Trowa, staring blearily at the people bustling around me and pulling me into the ER. Trowa was shouting things to people and people were shouting things at him, or maybe they were just talking, it's hard to tell.

When they first separated me from Trowa, I panicked and flailed to get away from whoever was holding onto me. All I could think was that he was supposed to come with me and Heero was supposed to show up to get both of us and that if we weren't together he would be angry. But they drugged me with something before I could properly protest and my muscles stopped listening to me. My knees buckled and I was all but carried the rest of the way.

When they cleaned and stitched the wound, it hurt like a bitch even through the numbing agent they gave me. I was laid out on a table and there was some sort of machine hooked to my finger that made an awful little beeping noise along with my heartbeats. The head doctor worked, diligently ignoring every blurry question I asked with a mouth that didn't quite work. One of the nurses spoke to me through it, holding my hand and I suppose trying to explain what they were doing. I wanted to laugh when she said something about how puzzled they were that I was still awake, but I couldn't find the breath. Apparently their anesthesia wasn't quite strong enough to put me down and out for the duration of my visit.

They must have worked for quite a while but I don't recall much of it. Heero came to my rescue shortly after all of the personnel had vacated my room to address the matter of a massive explosion several blocks down the way. Heero had helped me to my feet, saying that we wouldn't have much time before someone came back to move me so as to make room for newcomers. Despite that it had been patched, my body still protested to allowing my leg to hold too much weight. It was definitely an improvement, however. He helped me change into clothes he must have just picked up from a store; they were still stiff and sterile with the feeling of New. I blearily noticed that he was wearing new shoes.

After that, things were a bit of a blur. Heero moved me to the front waiting room and left me there while he 'obtained' painkillers it was probably very illegal to have while Trowa scoured the place for anything that might have had my blood on it. I heard the fire alarms go off as Heero returned to retrieve me, without Trowa. We were gone before the doctors could even properly check the false information we'd given them.


/End Chapter Twenty Six, Inheritance/


Notes:


Iiiii'm sorry for the delay; I went up north for the weekend. So now what's everyone thinking? I know, you think I'm insane for sure. I am. I want so badly to just tell you all how it ends but you are really close. Three more chapters and an epilogue and it's over, yay!

I beg of you… no matter what you read… don't lynch me until you see the "End Inheritance" tag…