Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Angel in the Flames ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Title: "Angel in the Flames"

Author: Desdomonda (Blackmoon2101@Aol.com)

Archive: Currently Not Anywhere

Category: Yaoi/ Shonen-Ai, Angst, Lemon

Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, 5+S, OCS x 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, Bandai does.

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Yaoi, Lemon, Violence, Angst, NCS, OC

Spoilers: Not really

Notes: Duo is abducted by a gang. NCS, Angst, and confusion ensues. Will Heero rescue Duo in time?

Feedback: Of course!!!

Chapter 9

The corridors wound in crazy circles and Heero limped on his hurt thigh, the Knife had gone deep, nearly to the bone. His wound bled profusely and Cor kept eyeing it warily. It seemed like eternity that they wandered the dark corridors of the filthy building. They met no resistance.

Heero became aware of the world around him brightening, and there were Manganacs bustling around, carting unconscious thugs out to the waiting cop cars. Then WuFei was there, he grabbed his arm and steadied him. Heero's vision swam, he felt ill.

"Where?" WuFei directed Cor to go and show the other Manganacs where the other victims were.

"He's in here, Heero. The EMT's haven't come this way yet." Heero nearly tripped trying to get to the door WuFei indicated.

"Heero, wait! He's in really bad shape. They had him chained to the wall, we moved him to the bed but we're afraid to move him any more." Heero pushed the Chinese man away, anger flashing in his eyes. The soldier pushed open the door with more strength than he thought he had.

Heero's head reeled. The stench in the room was tremendous. Human waste was covering the floor, the bed that Duo laid upon was disgusting, it was soaked through with urine and blood. Heero cursed loudly. How could he have let this happen? The room was hazy, blurry around the edges. There was a trunk in one corner, he kicked it towards the bed. He needed to sit. He lowered himself down onto the trunk, god knows what was in the thing, and he didn't care to know.

A blanket had been thrown over the disgusting mattress before Duo had been placed on it. And a blanket had been drawn over him, up to his chest. His face was nearly covered in blood and vomit. His eyes were crusted shut and his hair was the most disgusting mat of blood, semen, and vomit that could possibly be imagined. Heero swayed on the trunk. He leaned over and heaved onto the ground, his stomach was empty and so he was wracked with dry heaves for what seemed like hours. He hugged his arms to his chest and sobbed, he hadn't believed he could cry, but the tears fell like a waterfall.

He reached and held Duo's hand. It was limp and lifeless. The wrist was torn to shreds from the restraints. The wounds on his hands oozed pus. He felt tentatively for a pulse, silently believing that he could not be alive in such a condition. It was there, it was weak and slow, but it was there. Heero reached out and gently touched Duo's shredded forehead. It was burning, he withdrew his hand, feeling as if he had scalded it. He sobbed into Duo's palm, crying a life's worth of tears.

The door creaked open slowly and hesitantly. Heero felt like his life revolved around that room, that bed, that body. Three women walked in and were momentarily stunned by the smell. Heero looked up.

"…Help…" He whispered. The foremost woman nodded and came forward with the stretcher held between her and the second woman. Heero winced as all three draw in breath sharply. The women got to work immediately, picking him up and gently depositing him on the stretcher. Heero stood.

"I'm coming with." They just nodded and hurried in the direction of the front of the building, following a couple other stretchers and Manganacs. Heero staggered after them, the world threatening to swallow him whole as it reeled around him. It was all he could manage to climb inside the ambulance and collapse into a seat. He watched as the EMT's hooked Duo up to an I.V. and covered him with heated blankets. He felt ill as the ambulance lurched off to the nearest hospital. A woman with deep eyes knelt before him.

"I'm Kohana." Heero blinked and felt ill.

"Heeroo" He slurred. He felt incredibly sick, the sight of them pushing endless drugs into Duo's prone body was not helping. Kohana nodded and held up a light, shining it into Heero's eyes.

"You've got a bad concussion Heero, and your chest and leg look particularly nasty. We're going to need you to get some medical attention as well. How `bout you tell me you're friend's name here huh?" Heero blinked in confusion. Trying to sort out what the hell the girl had said made his head spin. He felt more vulnerable than he could ever remember feeling before.

"Errrr… Duo…. is he… ok?"

Kohana glanced at Duo's still form and placed a hand on Heero's good knee. "I don't know Heero, but we're all pulling for him."

Heero's head swam, he wanted to lie down, he wanted to see Duo, and he felt sick. Kohana waved a hand in front of his face. Heero's stomach heaved at the motion. The young woman handed him a bucket and held his bangs out of his way. The rigl lurched to a stop and Heero heaved bile into the bowl. Kohana patted his knee and rose. Two other EMT's rolled Duo out and rushed him inside. Heero stood slowly and tried to follow. Kohana offered him her shoulder, he glared at her, but took her help.

"Duo…I have to… go with Duo." He managed to gasp. Kohana shook her head.

"Uh-uh, you need to get stitched up and have your head looked at. You need to lie down" Heero looked ready to elbow her in the gut and go after Duo.

Sally ran out of the hospital to help with Heero. `Poor Kohana' she thought `having to deal with an injured Heero.' She supported the man's other shoulder.

"Hey, Kohana go get a bed ready next to Duo's for Heero, eh?" The girl nodded and ran off to do as she was told, despite the fact that Duo was in serious condition and Heero was not. And they were certainly not supposed to be in the same place. Sally looked at the pathetic Heero she was helping to stagger into the ER. He looked really crappy.

"Hey Heero, long time no see huh?" Heero was looking longingly at the door to the Emergency Room.

"Hi Sally."

Sally just sighed as they reached the door. "Heero, I'm going to get you to your bed. I'm going to have Kohana be your doctor okay? She went with the EMT's to help, she's one of the doctors from the Preventers." Heero just nodded slowly as the made their way towards a room bustling with doctors.

Sally helped Heero into his bed and ran over to help the doctors trying to stabilize Duo. The soldier just watched, his head sang and the room swam before his eyes but he refused to pass out. He had to be there for Duo. Kohana injected something into his arm. He felt so tired, but Duo could die…Kohana leaned over him and noticed the struggle in his eyes.

"Heero, go to sleep, Duo's getting the best care he can get. You need to rest." Heero turned his head and looked at Duo, his bed obscured by the doctors trying to get him stable. He closed his eyes and let the sleep take him.

?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heero opened his eyes, his chest hurt, his belly hurt, his thigh throbbed dully. His vision swam and all he could remember was Duo, Duo dying. He jolted up in bed.

"Duo!"

His head felt like it was going to roll right off his head. He groaned and grabbed his head between his palms. He opened his eyes and looked around. His room was empty, no other bed, no doctors bustling around trying to save his friend. His heart jumped to his throat.

"Duo…"

He carefully lowered himself to the floor, noting the hospital gown and IV attached to his hand and the large amount of stitches from his thigh to his chest. Heero's face contorted in disgust but he made off as quickly as he could without having his head fall off.

"Shit, why'd I have to fall asleep. Duo…"

Trailing the IV on its stand behind him he made his way to the door without too much difficulty. He saw the doctor from before go past, she was carrying a bunch of towels and washcloths. "Kohana!…Wait!" the doctor turned around at the mention of her name her eyes widened in surprise

"Heero! You're awake already? It takes most people a full two days to completely shake that stuff."

Heero paid no attention to her banter but shook his head slowly in annoyance.

"Where. is. Duo."

Realization dawned on the girls face and she nodded "Your friend is very lucky, a few more hours and he wouldn't have pulled through. He's in real bad shape though, and we had to induce a coma as a precaution while we take care of everything." The girl indicated the towels. "Actually these are for him, he's so filthy! And since he's stable now I'm going to give him a bath to clean him up. Sally said you could help if you woke up. Something tells me she knew you were going to." Heero's head swam, this girl talked so incredibly fast! He managed to catch the vital points.

"I'll help."

Kohana nodded and helped him to the elevator. "He's in the Intensive Care ward right now so we can keep a real good eye on him. His fever's down a lot and we stitched up everything that could be. He looks terrible but there aren't any serious internal injuries, by some miracle. His wrists, ankle, and a few of his ribs are broken, but mostly the problem is all the infections in his wounds." Heero managed to catch most of her banter and process it.

"How long have I been asleep?"

Kohana giggled a little. "A full day. Actually Sally said to give you something that would keep you out until we could get your friend stable." Heero growled his annoyance. The elevator made its stop at IC and they stepped into the hall of those that were in the worst shape.

"What about the others that got saved? How are they doing?"

Kohana bit her lip. "Most of them are okay, three of them died while you were out. Six are in critical condition. There were seven Dead On Arrival's ." Heero bit his own lip as he recognized a few of the occupants in the rooms they were passing.

"How many victims were there in total?"

The girl shook her head. "Twenty-seven."

Heero looked at the floor as they made their way down the hall. Kohana laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Here we are." Heero's head wasn't spinning too badly now, he felt more alive than before, and he wasn't nauseous. Duo's room was small and brightly lit. It reeked of human waste with an undertone of sterile hospital. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. He peered down at his friend. His cut up face looked peaceful and not as pained as it had before.

"…Duo" There were so many tubes and machines hooked up to him, Heero just shook his head in despair. `This would never have happened if I had paid more attention to him' the tall young man just sighed.

"We've got him hooked up to all this stuff. It's all on wheels we can just roll it to the bathroom with us most of it's been waterproofed as well."

Heero nodded. Kohana pushed Duo's hospital bed into the wide doorway, designed for such an event while Heero tailed his IV and pushed the equipment into the bathroom and off near the sink. Kohana began to arrange things properly and take off the unnecessary tubes that he could do without during his bath.

"Hey Heero could you run the bath?" Heero nodded, making sure the water was not to cold or hot. Kohana came around beside him with Duo in her arms. Heero drew in his breath in horror, the figure Kohana carried was little more than skeleton and stitching. His back, chest, buttocks, legs and arms were covered in sutures. His beautiful hair was one huge clump on his head. There was no place on his body that was untouched. His wrists and left ankle were in casts. Kohana placed the casts inside watertight bags.

"Heero, can you support him a moment?" He nodded and took Duo's limp form over his lap. Kohana situated Duo on his chest over Heero's arms and lap.

"His worse wounds are down around his rectum and penis." She said without a trace shyness in her voice.

Heero shifted Duo's form uncomfortably. This was not exactly something he wanted to take part in. Kohana steadied his knee that was twitching.

"It's ok to be uncomfortable with this Heero, but I kind of need an assistant for this, all the nurses are off taking care of the worse off patients." Heero couldn't imagine how anybody could be worse off than Duo. They had cleaned up his face though, thank god. The disturbing image of his friend, eyes crusted shut with grime, mouth and face caked in blood, vomit, and semen still haunted his mind.

Kohana spread his buttocks with the utmost gentleness to make sure none of the stitches had come loose or any of them were festering again. Against his will Heero's gaze swept Duo's posterior. Suddenly he felt nauseous again. Duo's rectum was so covered in stitches it was barely recognizable. Heero tore his gaze away, tears threatening to spill over. He felt so incredibly weak. This should never have happened. Duo should have gone to live with Quatre where he would have had plenty of attention and friends. And this would never have happened.

Kohana was done checking the wounds. She gently lowered Duo's form into the warm water of the bathtub. She handed Heero a wash cloth and left to get something. Heero leaned over the side of the tub and rubbed the cloth over the soap. He simply stared as the bubbles were created by his actions. He brushed Duo's blood soaked bangs out of his face. He ran the soapy washcloth gently over Duo's face, carefully avoiding the stitches and his tattered lips.

He followed the soapy cloth with one soaked in clean water. He ran the cloth everywhere, his shoulders, chest, belly, and legs. The water in the bathtub tuned red from the dried blood that had caked itself to Duo. Kohana returned bearing a pair of scissors. Heero eyed the scissors with mistrust.

"What are you going to do with those?"

The girl indicated Duo's pathetic mass of hair. "There's no way I can take care of that mess, I'm going to have to cut it."

Heero's eyes widened in surprise. "No. He would lose more than his hair if you cut it."

Kohana eyed him. "Oh, are you going to take care of it then?"

Heero sighed. "I guess I have to try."

Kohana nodded and indicated the shampoo and conditioner bottles on the side of the tub. Heero let down the water and added clean, warm water instead.

"Why aren't the others here?"

The girl laughed a little. "Visiting hours are later."

Heero nodded and set to work on the task ahead of him. He poured half the bottle of shampoo into his hand and began to work it through the hair on Duo's scalp. He tried to ignore the color the bubbles turned, it was disgusting but it needed to be done. As he worked through Duo's hair cleaning the blood soaked bubbles from the chestnut silk he began to think about how incredible Duo's hair was.

It was like an indicator to Duo's mood. Want to know how he really felt about something? All you had to do was watch his hair. It swished pertly when Duo walked with a swagger in his step, Duo was feeling sexy, or maybe he was just up to no good. He played with the end when he was nervous about something. He clutched at it when he was angry, and he trailed the ends over his face when he was feeling depressed. Heero could remember long nights spent in the safe house, he would be hacking on his computer or writing. Duo would just lie on his bed, trailing the end of his braid in endless foreign patterns over his face. Heero had often wondered what bothered him so much. He had never bothered to ask though, and perhaps, he was just a little nervous to.

Heero poured water over Duo's long mass of knots. He began working the rest of the shampoo through his friend's hair. There was less red this time, for this he was grateful. He sighed, glad that Kohana had left him to do this alone. "Duo, I'm so sorry that you ended up like this, it's my fault and I know it. If I had done things differently this would never had happened."

He worked the shampoo out of Duo's long hair before adding the detangler that was graciously provided for him; things would go much easier with it. Pictures came unbidden to Heero's mind. What would Duo do if he was conscious? It was nearly laughable, the faces that he imagined Duo making as he slid the detangler through his hair. Each and every situation he thought of was hysterically funny, and he would have laughed, if Duo wasn't as still as the dead and just about as filthy.

Yes, each image was funny, except for the last one. He was rubbing shampoo through Duo's hair and Duo purred like a giant cat, writhing in pleasure under his touch. He was smiling, he was leaning down and capturing Duo's lips in a fiery, passionate kiss. `No.' He decided, that one was definitely NOT funny. He shook his head and wrung the water from Duo's hair. He lifted Duo from the tub and wrapped him in one of the large warm bath towels, carefully avoiding misplacing any wires or tubes. He placed the other boy on the hospital bed and wheeled him back into the main room.

After some searching he found a closet filled with hospital gowns and a brush. He slipped Duo into the gown and grabbed another towel and the hairdryer Kohana had so nicely dropped by the door. He wrapped the other towel around Duo's hair and made sure everything in the bathroom was put away.

Heero took a deep breath and climbed into the bed behind Duo's still form. He drew Duo's back against his chest to add his warmth to his friend's still raging fever. He pulled out the first section of three-foot hair and set himself to his new mission. It was tedious, unrewarding work; each section took patience that he was reluctant to give to such a pointless matter.

Heero set down the sixth piece of hair, the rest of it looming in front of him He nearly reached for the scissors, but before him loomed the image of Duo without a braid, with no way to express his emotions to himself, reaching back and meeting only air. Heero sighed and returned to his task. He was tired, he wanted to sleep. `I must finish the mission first' it was nearly through, only a few more pieces before he could sleep.

Those last few pieces seemed to last forever, but finally, it was done. He ran the brush through and let his fingers fall through the soft silkiness of Duo's chestnut hair. He knew he should braid it, but he didn't know how, and he was so tired. His head began to swim and he laid back on the upright hospital bed, dragging Duo's limp form with him. He laid his head on the American's shoulder and let the sleep take him away.