Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Sandrock was no more ❯ chapter 13 ( Chapter 14 )

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Chapter Thirteen

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The Taurus was damaged, but he still had to dispose of Deathscythe and there wasn't a lot of time left.

"Duo, are you sure about this?" Hiiro asked over the communications line.

"Yeah, it's the last suit." The braided boy answered, "And then we can trash the Taurus too."

"The final hook up has been completed." Wu Fei's voice announced.

"You only have about twenty minutes left, on the timer." Trowa informed him. "Finish as quickly as possible."

"But be safe." Quatre's voice cut in.

"Don't worry, Q-man!" Duo grinned, "There's no way I'm missing your `Back to life' party." He smirked, "Especially since I'm the one planning it."

"A `Back to life' party planned by Shinigami…" Someone joked, "That's a good one."

"Hiiro? Was that you?" Duo laughed, "I do believe you're developing a sense of humor, man!"

"Duo, you're running out of time." Trowa reminded him.

"Let's finish this then!" Duo shouted in maniac glee. Skillfully, he worked the white suits' controls and began to taxi his Gundam out of the hanger. Slowly, but surely they ascended into a higher altitude where he would activate the verniay engines by remote, thus activating the bomb and destroying Deathscythe.

"I'll see ya in Hell, buddy." Duo promised, a sad not in his voice, his hand on the detonation button.

"DUO!" Hiiro's voice cut in on the communication line, "You have in coming Aries and Leo from the North- Get out of there!"

"Nani?" Duo exclaimed dropping the button, "Kisama! Where, Hiiro?" He frantically looked around his sensors and screens, "I can't see them…Hiiro?"

The radio cackled static.

"Duo Maxwell." A voice addressed over the line.

"Huh, Hiiro?" the braided boy frowned, "Hiiro, answer me!" He pounded the panel with his fist, "Hiiro!"

"Shinigami, do you know what death feels like?" The voice asked almost innocently.

"Nani?"

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime." An image appeared on the Taurus' screen.

Duo visibly paled as he laid eyes on the small black box's timer, "Hiiro…"

"See you in Hell." The voice mocked.

"Uh…" Duo stuttered speechless fumbling to find the detonator.

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"Duo. Duo." Hiiro all but shouted into the com, "DAMN!"

"What's the problem?" Wu Fei demanded.

"Something is jamming our transmissions and Duo's under attack!"

"He's a Gundam pilot, Hiiro; he can take care of himself." Wu Fei offered.

"He's not in a Gundam and the Taurus is damaged beyond repair." Hiiro told him, "I counted four Aries and three Leos before I was disconnected. He'll be annihilated!"

"If he were to detonate Deathscythe, the enemy suits would be destroyed as well." Wu Fei suggested.

"Along with his Taurus." Hiiro frowned burring his head in his hands. Wu Fei cocked an eyebrow.

"Yui?"

Hiiro looked up, "I can't do anything for him."

"He's smart. Duo'll figure out something. Besides," the Chinese boy smirked, "He said it himself, `You can't kill death'."

"Hai, you're right, Wu Fei." Hiiro said turning his attention to the static filled screen. `Please be alright, Duo…'

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He had the detonation devise and had pressed it, however, much to Duo's horror, neither of the cables keeping Deathscythe attached to the Taurus, had released upon command. He looked at the view screen again at the small black box. The timer just went to two minutes. The braided boy bit his bottom lip as he weighed his options.

"Deathscythe, old buddy, are we going to Hell together after all?" He whispered, the timer counting back to a minute, thirty seconds. "It doesn't seem fair! We just got Quatre back!" The cheerful face lost its mirth, "I was supposed to throw him a party- I can't give up, Deathscythe!" he all but shouted.

The machine groaned as the Gundam's weight shifted, snapping one of the cables.

Duo reached behind his seat for his parachute and tried to open the hatch. It was stuck. "DAMN IT!" he screamed kicking at it, "I won't die in a time such as this!"

59 seconds.

"Do you hear me, Deathscythe? I'm not…" He kicked the door harder, "Through!" The hatch gave way, "Yes." He yelled leaping from the Taurus.

30 seconds.

Duo was freefalling, trying to put as much distance between himself and the doomed Gundam. `Still…' he thought gravely as the wind in his face made it difficult to see or breath, `there's not enough time left, and I gotta deploy my chute or I'll be bug splat no matter what…but I gotta… gotta get away…'

15 seconds.

`Damn!' Not enough time…'

10 seconds.

The Aries was the first to attack, the Leos close behind. Taurus began to disintegrate, sending fiery debris hailing down around the falling boy.

5 seconds.

Duo had no choice; he had to deploy his parachute. He yanked on the release cord.

4…3…2…

The explosion sent out a shock wave incinerating the Gundam, Taurus, the attacking suits and the braided boy's silk chute. Screaming, he plummeted the rest of the distance to earth, trying to get his backup chute to deploy.

Thankfully it did.

It wasn't far, but the force of the explosion and the impact of hitting ground was sickening. Duo could hear some bones in his body snapping as he rolled until he came to a stop in a bruised and bloody heap.

Groaning, the boy forced his eyes open, "H…Hiiro…" He gasped out before unconsciousness graciously took him.

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Hours later the boy awoke, with a splitting headache along with agonizing pain through out the rest of his body. Gingerly, Duo tested each of his limbs. Remarkably, none of them appeared to be broken. His midsection, however, was a different story. No matter how he moved, flaming agony screamed against it.

"You shouldn't move to much kid." A gnarly old voice advised. "I ain't no doc, but I can tell you're hurt bad."

Duo plastered his trademark, carefree grin on his face, hiding his pain, as he forced himself to his unsteady feet. "It's not too bad," He smirked, turning to face the speaker, "I'm not dead yet."

"I suppose…" An elderly old man pondered stroking the stubble on his pointy chin. "I wonder though, what a kid like you's doing way out here in the middle of nowheres?"

Duo cocked his head to the side, "Nowheres? What do you mean? I can't be to far from Paris."

"Pareece? Boy, you're at least half days drive from Pareece." The old man cackled.

"Half a day… Hiiro's going to flip over this one…" Duo frowned, his hand rubbing at his pained side. "Hey listen, I need to get back to the city fast. Do you know where I can find a ride?"

"I'm heading to Pareece on business next week." The old man drawled, "Nobody else has a runnin' veehical."

"But I gotta get there now!" Duo pressed. "I can pay you for gas, and you're time." The old man stared at him. "Please." Duo pleaded.

The old man cackled, "Sure boy. I need to stock up on whiskey anyhows." He gestured for the braided boy to follow him, "The truck's over this a way."

Duo sighed with relief and immediately winced in pain. "Do you have a phone that I can call my friends with?" he asked, limping after the old geezer.

"Yeah…at least I think it's workin'." The old man's brow furrowed, "Rat's like to chew at the wires." He shrugged. "If you's can get its to work, then you's can use it."

"Arigato." The boy said gratefully.

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Hiiro was pacing around his room very agitated. "Kisama." He swore again. He looked over at his lap top, and at the Vid phone. There still hadn't been any word from Duo. The stoic boy sighed exasperatedly. "Come on, Duo…You can't be dead… You can't kill death." A soft knock on his door caused the Japanese boy to jump. `Kisama, get a grip, Yui.' He silently lectured himself, `Duo can take care of himself.'

"Hiiro?" A soft voice called, "May I come in."

Hiiro frowned, `Quatre. Figures that he'd come see me. That boy probably knows exactly what I'm feeling thanks to that cursed sixth sense of his.'

"Hiiro, please?"

Silently he went over and unlocked the door. Quatre stood there, his face masked with concern. "So what do you want, Quatre?" He asked coldly, moving aside for the boy to enter.

"Hopefully to calm you down a little." The blonde boy said, a soft smile on his face along with the concern.

"I'm fine." Hiiro said, his eyes stealing away to his lap top and Vid phone.

Quatre followed his gaze, "I know that, Hiiro. But, you're also very worried… about Duo." Hiiro didn't answer. "I just thought that some company might help." The boy smiled, "I know that whenever Trowa's away, I always fear the worst."

"He was under attack… The bomb exploded…" Hiiro muttered.

"It's okay to worry, Hiiro." Quatre said, "But you shouldn't panic until you have a reason to."

"I'm not panicked." Hiiro glared.

The blonde smiled, "Not yet anyway."

They stood in silence for a bit, before Hiiro sighed, his shoulders visibly slumped in a sort of defeat, "Quatre…The war is over."

"Yes."

"And without the Gundams, We probably won't have anymore missions."

The Arabian's brow furrowed as he tried to follow what the stoic boy was trying to say, "Probably not."

"So…I…I don't have to be the perfect soldier anymore?"

"No, Hiiro, you don't."

"I…I don't know how to be anything else."

Quatre's face grew softer as he looked at his confused friend, "I suggest, Hiiro, that you talk to Duo about it when he gets home."

The Japanese boy opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but the beeping alert of an incoming call interrupted him. Immediately he was at the phone, "Duo?"

"Hey there, Hiiro!" A cheerful voice greeted though the picture was mostly static and out of focus.

"Duo." Hiiro sighed with relief at the sound of his partner's voice. He didn't notice Quatre grimacing in discomfort as his hand stole up to his chest. "Duo, are you alright?"

"Um… about as well as can be expected." The voice replied, cheerful as ever.

"Where are you?"

"Uh… about half a day from Paris." The braided boy replied, "I've got a ride to town and should be back later tonight."

"Duo." Quatre cut in, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure, Q-man." Duo shrugged, "I'm a little banged up; it was a rough landing. But really, I'm fine." The blonde nodded accepting this answer and turned to go, "Wait, Quatre…"

"Hmmm?" the Arabian paused.

Duo's face became completely serious, "The last time you were in Sandrock, there was someone on the communications with you, right?"

The boy nodded, "Hai, Catherine, Why?"

"And Catherine is in Jail?"

"Yes."

"Duo, what are you getting at?" Hiiro interrupted, noting the puzzled look on the braided boy.

"Someone broke through the Taurus' communications." He answered before the line went dead.

Hiiro stared at the blank screen, "What happened?" He demanded.

"His connection was lost." Quatre said, stating the obvious, "I'm sure it was nothing, the connection wasn't that great to start with."

Hiiro nodded, turning off his phone.

"At least you know he's alive and for the most part, well." Quatre pointed out, "And he said that he'd be back later tonight." Again, Hiiro just nodded, his mind elsewhere. "Come on." The blonde said grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door. "Let's go tell the others. You're not the only one who has been worried about him, you know."

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To be continued…