A Glint in the Snow
By: Abby Ebon
Disclaimer: YYH and Gundam Wing do not in any way shape of form belong to me. However anything unrecognized and/or original characters do.
Heero later admitted to himself that he had rushed through the process of getting Wing into the air.
As he was the first out of the storage he saw something he doubted anyone but Duo would see before the battle.
Yuusuke was savagely attacking the Mobile Dolls with blue energy beams. The Mobile Dolls apparently couldn't absorb such large quantities of energy, and simply put, blew up- sending shards of metal everywhere.
Heero didn't have time to watch further because seeing him what appeared to be swarms of Mobile Dolls flew up to attack Wing.
Heero knew that Rius and Doctor J hadn't had time to make the amount of Mobile Dolls which were arranged around him.
"01, this is 05- no matter what you see there are only three Mobile Dolls up there with you!" Wufei yelled across the vid screen, having seen Wing trying to guard its back from foes that weren't there.
Heero was relieved that Wufei had told him that Rius was using that illusion spell thing again.
The only problem was that the 'fake' ones attacked too.
Using electricity which sent Wing into system shut down for only a few seconds- but it was seconds Heero desperately needed.
The shocks also served another purpose apparently because Heero soon found out that they interrupted vid-screen and radio too much to give/receive information to/from the other pilots.
Heero watched powerlessly as too many Mobile Dolls to be real surrounded him forcing him to use energy and time to get rid of both the fake and real Mobile Dolls J and Rius had created.
It was then that Heero spotted the beam cannon of a very real Mobile Doll aimed at Deathscythe's unprotected back.
Heero wasn't the only one to scramble to get launched. Demons or not Duo doubted that Yuusuke and his team could make too big of a dent in the Mobile Dolls army.
It was a blur of enemy after enemy, one taking another's place before Duo had time to rest. He had glimpses of Heero fighting what seemed like more Mobile Dolls then him, and for some reason he couldn't communicate with anyone.
The control panel would occasionally shoot sparks and power was lost for only a few seconds but it was enough to make a difference in the battle.
The kind of difference Duo knew their enemies would thrive off of and take full advantage of. He saw Quatre and Trowa fighting back to back in the thick of too many Mobile Dolls to count at the glance he got.
Wufei seemed to be doing well though he was backing up Yuusuke and his friends. All of whom were moving so fast all Duo saw of Hiei was a flash of black and a blur of motion. Kurama had used plants to crush Mobile Dolls together.
That was all of his attention that Duo could spare for his friends before he was hit- and quickly had to strike that enemy down.
Duo suspected that Rius was using some sort of illusion like Kori had at the caves. Hadn't Kori said something about illusions before Duo had taken off? He couldn't remember.
Duo's head pounded and he absently wiped at what he thought was sweat trailing down his face only to see that it wasn't sweat at all. Blood- dark crimson and Duo felt suddenly queasy and lightheaded.
He couldn't remember hitting his head- and he wheezed when Deathscyth was hit from the side reacting automatically sending his scythe through his enemy. Two things happened so fast Duo could never recall later what had happened first.
One his thermal scythe flickered and he was left with only the scythe. Second his vision clouded and breath caught in his throat as the harness jerked and he was slammed into the Earth.
Duo hovered between consciousness and darkness, knowing that if he fell into the darkness he would probably not awake again.
At the same time the darkness was so welcoming and the pain and not rightness thick in his head which felt like it weighed nothing.
Duo didn't know how long it was before the cockpits door was pried open, and Kurama and Heero stood there and Duo knew he was safe to sleep because Heero told him the battle was over and so he didn't bother to argue and allowed himself to drift to sleep.
Trowa and Quatre entered the battle together, and no matter how hard they fought there was always more of Rius's Mobile Dolls –or illusions to fight it was like a never ending ferries wheel.
He was glad Wufei had managed to get the message of the illusions before the electricity had blacked out communications.
Trowa had made sure to stick close to Quatre's side- and made sure they both hovered between Heero's and Duo's Gundams incase either pilot needed assistance but was unable to call for it.
He couldn't help but blame himself when he saw Duo falter, then the cannon from the Mobile Doll Trowa had seen too late.
In what seemed like a suicidal move Quatre had moved to Deathscythe's side and knowing he couldn't take a hit like that in Sandrock Quatre had crashed Sandrock into Deathscyth and saved them both.
The crash may have saved them both from immediate death but Trowa knew they would both have bad physical injures. Seeing red Trowa had only enough sense to guard Heero's back as they both went after the Mobile Dolls with a vengeance.
Quatre had launched with Trowa, making sure to stay by the quite pilot's side. Almost immediately after launching they had received Wufei's warning and could only assume Heero and Duo had as well.
Just in case Heero or Duo needed them he and Trowa had made a agreement to stay near the other two as they fought just before they lost communications from a strike from one of the illusions.
The battle never seemed to ebb or rise as Sandrock and Heavyarms took out their opponents. There was no passage of time only the constant crackle of electricity and Quatre's blood pounding through his veins and heart.
Quatre wasn't sure why his gaze strayed to Deathscythe when the Gundam faltered for a few seconds and froze. He wasn't aware that he had moved Sandrock when he had seen the glint of the Mobile Doll's cannon.
He only felt Sandrock impact with Deathscythe and the scream of metal and the blinding pain that wouldn't fade from his arm and kept him awake when the cockpit door was torn off its hinges and Trowa and Hiei were there and he was safe because it was over.
He was taken out of the cockpit and he saw Duo covered in too much blood and too pale and eyes closed. Quatre griped Trowa's arm hard enough to make the silent pilot to winch.
What had he done?
Wufei only had time to warn three of his friends about what he had seen when he had launched. Hiei had run at an illusion Mobile Doll his sword drawn and it had faded into nothing.
He had covered for the demons as they fought, allowing to guard their back as he guarded theirs. Time blurred and stretched and lulled to only the fighting.
It only came to a halting stop when the shriek and grind of Gundam's hitting each other and the shock wave of dirt strong enough to blind him and force the illusions to fade as he turned to see what had happened.
The tangle of scrape metal that he knew was Sandrock and Deathscythe- but refused to call it that because it made it too real.
Made it too real that both Duo and Quatre could very well be dieing in that mess of twisted metal that had no beginning- no ending -and was only there.
He knew even if he couldn't tear his off from the site that Heero and Trowa were taking care of the rest of the Mobile Dolls.
Wufei scrambled down his Gundam, and met Yuusuke who had found J, and they were all running to the wreck left trying to find the cockpits in all the junk.
Then Hiei and Kurama were there and had brought Trowa and Heero, and Kori who was limping and was covered in blood.
Quatre came out walking on his own through Trowa was by his side Quatre was holding onto Trowa's arm.
But when Wufei saw Duo he knew who was worse off- Kori and Quatre could still move- Duo didn't look like he could.
AN: Ummm….Don't hate me! Duo's not going to die- and neither is Quatre. The next chapter will be about what Yuusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kori did though.