Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Cult Characteristic ❯ Chapter 4

FOUR.

Wufei couldn't get his mind to work. His brain had been telling him something was wrong for so long, but this…The only thing he could think was that they had never even bothered to file an official missing persons report.

Fiona was beside him again, taking the torch from his hands and pushing him forward. She had figured it out; knew that they knew Shinigami. Hell, she had probably known the whole time. Stumbling forward, Wufei fell to his knees in the blood. He just didn't know what to do.

Those eyes slid open a little further, watering more. Fiona instinctively moved backward, taking the light with her. Wufei could still see well enough and his new charge…

"Duo…?" He whispered hoarsely, not sure what to do.

There was no reply. He just sat there, curled up against the wall, smothered in blood, just as he had for…eleven months. He had been missing for eleven months. Been here, in this place, for eleven months. Wufei felt tears stinging his eyes.

"Duo…" He snatched hold of Duo's shirt and pulled him forward, folding arms around him. He almost wasn't there. Nothing but skin stretched over bone. So pale, like a ghost.

"Fei?" Small, weak, barely audible Wufei pushed his hand into the nested mess of hair at the back of Duo's head.

"It's alright. I'm here. It's over. We're going home. It's all over."

And it was going to be hell. Already Wufei's brain was imaging Duo's rehabilitation, imagining Heero's reaction, and Quatre's. Trowa's. Sally's…What if Duo never recovered. It was all their fault. If they had just looked…but they had assumed the worst. Assumed he had run.

There was shuffling. Wufei heard a sigh and a grunt, then panicked splashes. Heero fell to his knees at Wufei's side, hands reaching out and stopping just short of touching.

"Duo?" A strangled moan that went straight through Wufei's heart. The small form in his arms shook, the head turned, took in the shape at its side then Duo flung himself against Heero's chest with an audible splash and thunk.

Tears. So many tears. Wufei wanted to scream, to collapse, to forget, but it was too late. Above the sounds of Preventers entering the chamber could be heard.

"Heero? Wufei?" Quatre's voice echoed through the chamber.

"Quatre…" Wufei yelled, but his voice broke.

"Wufei, are you alright? Have you got the prize?" Worried.

Wufei felt tears running down his cheeks as he looked at Heero and Duo kneeling in the bloody mess that had been Duo's home for the past eleven months.

"Trowa…" Wufei yelled, unable to tell Quatre even though he knew Quatre was listening.

"Wufei?" Trowa's head appeared at the edge of the pit.

"The prize…it….it's…" Wufei took a deep breath. "It's DUO!" He screamed, unable to get it out any other way. There was no need to say anything more. Trowa flung himself over the edge, grabbing hold of the ladder half way down, Quatre not far behind. Wufei saw Sally and Noin appear at the top. Sally was coming down. Wufei sighed. He needed her, needed to touch her, to know she was fine. Needed her there as a doctor, to touch Duo and tell them all he was fine even though he knew it wasn't true.

Trowa landed and was running, but to Wufei's surprise he ran not to Duo and Heero on the floor but to him, Wufei. Hands rested on his shoulders, green eye seeking out Wufei's black.

"Are you alright?" Wufei didn't know what to say. He just nodded haphazardly and pointed at the pair on the floor. Trowa took in the sight, nodded in understanding and pushed Wufei toward Fiona. Wufei remembered the girl was there, still holding up their only source of light as Quatre appeared, Sally and Noin on his heels with electric lanterns. Wufei ran at them before they could turn them on.

"No!" He grabbed hold of Sally's wrist. "He hasn't seen light since…" His bvoice choked up, but they understood. Sally placed a lantern by the ladder, covered it with her jacket and turned it on. The pit was filled with very dull orange light.

Fiona passed her torch to Noin who started climbing back up, pushing the small girl ahead of her. Wufei was grateful. He liked Fiona, but he couldn't deal with her right then. She had done her part. It was time for him to do his and help the friend he had abandoned.

"Wufei?" Sally put her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look at her.

"You're not surprised…"

"The leaders said they were a death cult. That they worshipped Shinigami. Milliardo went crazy and forced his way in. Quatre and Trowa were trying to stay calm, but once they heard you…they knew. We all knew once we entered the room. There are Scythe's along the far wall, and images of Deathscythe are in all the cabins."

Wufei only nodded. He couldn't think of anything else to do. Sally let him go, moving to Heero and the shaking form in his arms. Trowa and Quatre fell back, arms around each other, haunted eyes unable to turn away. Wufei watched Sally try to pry Duo off Heero, but all that remained of Duo's spirit was clinging to that one hold. Sally could not break the last grip- the death grip- of Shinigami. She didn't want to. So she let him hold on to Heero while she cut the shirt off his back and inspected his body. She let the trousers stay on. That could wait until later.

"Noin! We need a way to get him out of here!"

"Roger!" Noin's voice came from somewhere high above followed by the noise of people running to obey her commands, whatever they were. Wufei wondered if Noin would realize they had to get Duo and Heero out of the pit together. Probably; Noin was good with things like that.

"Is he…okay?"

It was the first thing Heero had said and Wufei felt his breath escape him. Some part of him had worried Heero would be rendered useless by the mere sight of Duo. Hell, the perfect soldier had fainted!

"He's smothered in bruises. He's been starved. He needs liquid. His muscles have atrophied. He needs rest. He needs a damn bath! Other than that I won't know until he's clean."

The strangest sound filled the space after that. It was a strange, strangled sort of cough. Wufei gaped at Duo, along with everyone else. He was…giggling! Or as close to it as he could come. His voice was damaged, unused, barely there like the rest of him, but it was the sweetest sound they had heard in close to a year.

"Duo?" Sally asked, eyes tearing.

"My left ankle is twisted," Duo whispered. "My right leg is broken…but its been that way a while…My left arm is broken. My ribs are broken."

"Which ribs?" Sally was gaping. How did Duo know all this? Apparently she had momentarily forgotten this broken boy was a Gundam Pilot. How many times had he had to catalogue and tend his own wounds? Too many to recall.

"All of them," came the weak reply and Wufei suddenly understood the heavy breathing.

Wufei saw Heero's arms loosen, but Duo only clung to him tighter. Apparently the pain was forgotten long ago. There was only the awareness of the injury. Wufei wanted to cry. To just collapse on the floor and cry. How had they come to this?

A shout from above was their only warning before a stretcher was being lowered on ropes, Milliardo and Noin at either end. Wufei shook himself and grabbed the camera Milliardo threw at him. Time to catalogue the area. Catalogue the pit.

He blocked out Duo and Heero being placed on the stretcher, blocked out Quatre and Trowa climbing back out, aware only of Milliardo taking his own pictures, making the second version of the catalogue so no one could say it was a lie. Two identical witnesses. Wufei let his body go; it knew what to do. His brain needed to sleep.

And it did.