No Sound In Space
Chapter Six

Duo

There was a loud bang. Undeniably a gun and I wasn't sure where it came from, but I knew whom it was aimed at when Treize dove in front of Zechs. I was too shocked to even make a sound. Zechs however, was not too shocked. He was more horrified. I had never heard a shriek of that octave come from him. Treize fell back into him, he dropped down with the man, holding his shoulders and trying to support him. His legs were under Treize, but he stayed upright. There was blood splattered on Zechs's face and his arms were covered. Heero came over at about that time. He saw the blood and he looked alarmed. Well, as alarmed as he looked behind his natural mask of indifference. He knelt close to the wounded and did the standard check for pulse, heartbeat and breathing.

"He's still alive. Someone, get some medical attention out here now!" Heero barked orders, but it was a good thing he did, because no one else was in their right mind. Trowa and Wufei both ran with Sally toward where I was sure they'd find Lady Une. Quatre tried to help Heero with slowing the bleeding in Treize's chest. That left me to tend Zechs.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and I could feel he was shaking. He hadn't broken his watch on Treize. His hands were gripping the material on the shoulders of the older man's shirt. "T…Treize…" He shook more than before.

It was amazing that Treize was able to open his eyes. He watched Zechs tiredly and blinked slowly. After several minutes of quiet, he seemed to gather the strength to talk, "…you…you're not injured…are you, love?" He whispered.

"You idiot…" Zechs choked in a partial sob.

"Don't be mad."

"Stop talking, Treize." Heero ordered, "You need to save that for when you're healed." He looked over his shoulder. I looked in the same direction and saw what he saw. Help. Trowa and Wufei were with two doctors and they had one of those nifty stretchers for moving patients in hospitals.

They were very careful while they moved him. There was no denying that the loss of blood was enormous. Zechs was sopping a good deal of it up by being underneath him. They laid Treize out on the stretcher and before Zechs could even get to his feet they were wheeling him into the nearest room they could set up as a quick medical area. Zechs reached out but failed to get off the floor fast enough. He was staring down at the pool of blood blankly now and I tried to reach him, but he was in shock.

"Zechs? …He's going to be okay…He's in doctors' hands now." I tried to be soothing. There didn't seem like there was much I could do. I knelt next to him and stayed close. I pulled my arm back and I realized that it was covered in blood as well. It hadn't occurred to me that Zechs had been clipped too. He wasn't with it, so I patted his shoulder and pinpointed his wound. He was bleeding from the shoulder. It shot through both of them. If Treize hadn't thrown him out of the way, Zechs would have been dead with no chance at all.

"Is he okay?" Heero looked down at me. He was trying to wipe his hands clean of blood. There was just so much of it.

"He's injured and he's not responding."

Heero dropped to one knee and gently brushed the stray strand of hair out of Zechs's face. He tried to draw some attention away from the entrapment of the man's mind. "Zechs? Try to hear me. You're going through shock. We need to get you treated." He spoke slowly.

"I want to be with Treize…" He whispered coherently enough but the look in his eyes was frightening. "He can't be alone…"

"He's got the best doctors with him now Zechs. I promise." Heero motioned to me over the blonde's shoulder and I helped him slowly pulled Zechs from the stained floor.

"He can't die…Heero…he can't."

The female figure that proved to be Lady Une appeared within moments. She looked as shaken up as the rest of us, but no one was nearing the stage of hysteria that Zechs was. Despite his lack of tears, he already feared the worst.

"Une, don't ask right now." Heero clipped. There was no need to start a scene over what had happened. If Une blamed Zechs, then there was no telling who might have gotten hurt. "Are you having the perimeter searched?"

"I have the building surrounded."

"Well, keep an eye out for a blonde, because I saw the shooter. Not very well, because he was in the shadows, but I saw enough to identify him."

"A blonde?" I asked, looking at the blond strands of Zechs's hair as I ran my fingers through them.

"I think Zechs's look alike is getting personal. That's the second time today he's been shot at." Heero explained, walking forward slowly. The blood dripping to the floor concerned me more and more.

"Heero…"

"I know, Baka. Une, please get Noin. She's trained in emergency medical and he needs it. Again."

Lady Une nodded her head. I think in that case it was acceptable for Heero to bark an order or two. This situation definitely called for it.

"Zechs…come on big guy…" I cooed softly. I knew better than to assume he was just stunned. Heero didn't know the things I knew about him. He had lost Treize once before, and—while I didn't realize it before—I knew now what effects it had on him. When we first set out to rebuild the Gundams he was unstable as all hell. Because of Treize. This must have been like a horrible blast from the past. He nodded and blinked slowly. Eventually he came to shake his head a little and the focus began to return. He was still out of it, but he was more coherent. He looked up at me and I wanted to stab myself at the utter agony in his eyes. It was heart wrenching. If Treize didn't make it…Zechs would be destroyed by it.

"He's not dead, Zechs." Heero spoke with more sympathy than I'd heard from him in a long time.

"W-where is he?" He spoke lowly but his voice was rising alarmingly quickly, "where is Treize?" He turned around and his hands gripped the sleeve of my shirt so tight I thought it was going to rip.

The soothing voice of my favorite Chinese man echoed across the bloodied hall; "They've taken him to stabilize him." Wufei stepped toward us, walking over the long puddle of blood, and went directly to Zechs. The gentleness he displayed suggested that all was not as well as he was trying to portray. He reached forward with both of his hands and put a hand on each of Zechs's cheeks. There was no way the blonde could look away from him. "Listen to me. They are doing their absolute best for him right now. You need to get looked at. Please cooperate."

Zechs wavered and tried to pull back from Wufei, but failed. "I want to see Treize!" He argued, fully snapping back into reality and sounding terrified of the possibilities.

"Zechs…don't fight me. I can't put you in your place if I need to. Right now, Treize needs to be left in the doctor's hands." Fei was trying to be reasonable. He was the most levelheaded person I'd ever met. I mean, sure Heero was levelheaded, but Wufei was also less dense than Heero sometimes.

"But if Treize—"

"Stop, damn it! I promise you, the minute they've assured us that Treize is stabile I will personally come get you and take you to him! Then you can super glue yourself to him for the rest of eternity!"

Zechs leaned against Wufei for support when he slid in a splotch of blood. They needed to clean that mess up, or someone was likely to get hurt. "He can't die…" He whispered staring down at Wufei's shirt. He was quiet for a moment and I moved around to Wufei's other side. Heero stayed where he was. If we needed to move him, I wanted to be ready for it.

"He's strong, Zechs," Fei replied, soothingly patting his back. He mouthed to me over Zechs's shoulder to get ready. For what… I didn't know.

What Zechs said then alarmed us.

"It's my fault…"

He was blaming himself for being a victim! He was taking absolute responsibility for something he could not control! Treize had been the one to jump in front of him and yet, he was accepting himself as the supposed killer. He would never stop blaming himself and if Treize didn't live…he would never forgive himself either.

"It's not your fault, I don't know where you're getting that idea." Heero said softly. Sensitivity wasn't in Heero's book of talents (though everything else was) but he tried.

"It is my fault…none of this would have happened if…"

"Stop it, Zechs," Wufei said firmly.

"If I hadn't been targeted…"

"Which wasn't your fault!"

"…If I hadn't done half of the things I'd done…"

"Milliardo." Wufei's voice alone could have cut steel. "If you say another word then I swear on my sense of justice! So help me god, what I do to you!"

Zechs looked up swiftly. He appeared alert, but he had a dead look in his eyes. "If I can't see Treize…Go ahead then."

Before I had the chance to even blink, Wufei drew back his arm. He was getting irritated and a pissed off Fei was never a good thing. I gasped when I realized what Wufei was going to do. Neither Heero nor I were quick enough to restrain him before he socked Zechs in the gut with enough force to knock the man out of air and probably out of consciousness. Zechs coughed for air for a moment then slumped against the Chinese pilot. Heero and I stepped forward to help lift him carefully, so as to avoid the bleeding shoulder.

"Wufei, what the hell are you thinking?" Heero scolded. "He's already injured!"

"Look, I can't stand to listen to him blame himself for everything! This is not his fault! He needs a moment for his mind to refresh itself. And he can do it best if he's not conscious!"

Heero opened his mouth with every intention to argue against that. However, Lady Une returned with Noin and another stretcher. It was a good thing too, because Zechs was no longer with the alert world. He was still shaking. They carefully took Zechs in their care. I helped Heero move him and Noin quickly began to cut away the shirt. It was pointless to try and wrestle an injured and unconscious man out of his clothing. He mumbled a bit, but he wasn't waking up.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Noin informed. She inspected the wound and we moved along slowly toward the room next to Treize. It was better to keep the stats private. "You know, it seems that Zechs is always the one getting hurt when he's around you people." He looked to Heero and gave him a melancholy smile. Damn it, it was so true.

"That's what he gets for being beautiful." Heero snorted.

"Ah, so you admit it." She said idly. Lady Une opened the door and we wheeled him in. She followed us in and went straight for a cabinet. I noticed the things she was pulling out and I had to wonder if all of the rooms in the Preventor Head Quarters in Sanc had a full medical kit stashed in a cabinet.

I looked around hazily and I noticed the absence of Trowa and Quatre. That was odd. I hadn't been paying much attention, but I didn't see them leave or slip off anywhere. I supposed I Was just really focused on what was going on. Wufei gave me a questioning look. He looked so tired and a little frustrated still. Poor Fei. It was sad how much he cared about Blondie but failed to acknowledge that affection. Or a least that's what it seemed like.

"Where did Quatre and Trowa go?" I finally asked, just so he'd stop looking at me like I was retarded.

"They went to help with the perimeter watch. I don't think Quatre would have been able to contain his tears if he stayed."

A cough followed, "I think he'd kill us in the flood." Wufei's eyes widened and we both turned toward the source of the sardonic retort. Zechs was awake! Holy hell! His head was turned to the side and he was looking at us with half closed eyes. He looked like he was immobile.

"I, apparently, did not hit you hard enough." Fei sighed.

"A little internal bleeding won't kill me, but if you had hit me harder I'd probably be vomiting my pulverized internal organs all over the place." It was nice to hear a lighter subject from him, but he sounded so bitter. That sounded like the Zechs I'd first really gotten to know. When I met him after the New Years War and started helping him build the Gundams again. "I feel like I'm in a haze.

"Zechs? You remember everything right?" Heero asked gently.

Zechs replied bluntly, "Treize is dead, isn't he?"

"No! He's not dead! Relax, they're taking care of him!" I replied first. "You were having a bit of an episode before. I think you were a little hysterical or in shock. It seems a quick blackout rebooted your system."

"Do you remember anything passed being shot?" Heero nudged a little. It was something we needed to know. In the last five years, it'd come to our attention that every now and then, when he was on a particular low time, he could easily block out entire memories. If that were one of those moments, it would only make it more difficult.

"All I remember is the gun going off and hitting the floor."

"Don't talk Zechs," Noin interrupted. "The less you talk, the easier it'll be to clean this wound without making it worse."

"How bad is it?" I leaned forward to look.

"The bullet may have cleared through Treize, but that slowed it down. So it didn't go through his shoulder. We'll have to dig it out. How does that sound Zechs?" She asked, pressing the spot with a damp towel to clean up some of the blood. Lady Une, receiving the help of Wufei, pulled over a table to set out the medical supplies. She stepped back and made sure there was nothing she was missing. Because she always did that.

"Go check on Treize, Une." Heero said to her. "I know you want to."

"I'll be fine." Zechs assured. "Please…I need to know he's okay." If the look he gave her didn't break her heart than she's just not a woman, because that even broke my heart!

"Okay. I'll come back as soon as I know what's going on." She nodded and left out the door silently.

"Now Zechs, I know it's not your thing; but this is going to hurt, do you-"

"No painkillers."

"Alright, I knew that. I was just making sure." She said, pulling up a tall stool next to him. "Heero, can you bring that lamp over here? I'm going to need more light." Heero quickly and efficiently complied. That's my Heero for you. I moved to stand on the other side of Zechs.

"You going to be my moral support?" He asked tiredly.

"Only until Treize can." I said confidently.

Zechs closed his eyes while Noin began poking at his wound. I know it must have hurt, but if there was one thing I'd gathered in all of my time knowing Zechs, it was that he had a high tolerance for pain. With as many injuries as he managed, he'd have to. I took his hand calmly. He had been accustomed to my random displays of affection, so this really didn't alarm him. He hissed a bit here and there as Noin poked about.

"It's a little deeper than I thought. Sorry." She apologized.

"Don't be sorry." Zechs winced again. "Fish it out, girl, I know you can be more tenacious than this."

Noin smiled, "You asked for it tough guy." Even I winced when she forcibly cut the wound larger. She set the scalpel back on the table and reached for a pair of medial pliers or tweezers. I don't really know what they're called. "Does it hurt yet?" She asked.

"Nope." Zechs lied through gritted teeth. He was squeezing my hand and probably grinding his teeth flat. "I'm trained for this kind of thing, but damn it all…it's been a while."

"I guess we need to smack you around a bit to toughen you up again." Wufei added nonchalantly. He was wringing out a wet towel into the sink in the bathroom of the room. He shook it open and walked back over to us. "You always seem to be the center of the drama, you know that?" Fei slid up next to me.

"Don't hate me became I'm beautiful."

"I told you not to talk." Noin scolded.

Wufei silenced Zechs with a hand over his mouth, "It was my fault." He removed his hand but gave the blonde a look that said 'speak and you'll regret it'.

I felt Heero's hand on my arm and I knew he wanted to talk to me. I learned early on what each touch meant. I could read his expressions and I knew the tone of his voice like no one else. He pulled me toward the door, leaving a quick 'we'll be back' to appease them. Wufei was taking care of Zechs. They'd be fine. Hee-chan pulled the door shut behind us and turned to me. There was something very weird about him at that moment.

"Hee-chan? What's wrong?"

"I saw the man who shot at Zechs. I know I already mentioned it…but I think he's still here."

"What?" I replied, trying to keep my voice low; but it was an alarming idea.

"Une said she had the building surrounded…and with the Preventor formation, I know they could manage to have the place surrounded within minutes."

I remembered her saying something else though, "But she also said all of her team was dispatched to outside work!"

"She still had Noin and Sally here…so there must have been more people here already. Plus, Trowa and Quatre are out there with them. I doubt that anyone could escape out of here when the building is as locked down as it is. Only you could do it, I think. Stealth is your thing, but I don't think someone who's made himself so obvious could mimic that."

I contemplated it a moment and he was right, "I'll tale the compliment Hee-chan, but if he's still in the building…then aren't we in more danger?"

He was silent for a minute, "Yes. We are…and I know the suggestion will not go over well…but I think we need to split up the group and transport Zechs to L5 now. Even if he's not still here, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Zechs won't go for that Heero. If that means leaving Treize, he won't do it. You know that as well as I do."

"He may not get a choice. I'd rather separate them for a short time than have a dead blonde on our hands. If Treize woke up to find out that Zechs got killed because we didn't act, I think he would drop his 'no kill' attitude quickly."

"I know…But…" A door opened and I stopped talking. I couldn't really think of what to say next. I glanced over to Lady Une. She didn't have tears rolling down her face nor did she have a dead look in her eyes, so I assumed Treize was doing better.

She closed the door quietly behind her and walked our way. She was looking around a lot, much like I was doing. Once something happens, you can't be too paranoid. She stopped a few feet from us. Her long hair and elegant face made her seem much nicer than she was capable of being. Sometimes the woman was just down right mean, but she had her heart in the right place I believe. "He's stable." She said simply.

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh that's great news!"

"Would he be able to be transported?" Heero asked. All business, that Heero of mine.

"At this moment, I don't think so. He's stable but teetering on critical."

"Then it's not necessary to risk it. We're thinking we may need to get Zechs out of here now."

"I think that's a great idea." She agreed.

I wasn't so sure it was.

To be continued…