Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Sandrock was no more ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 16 )

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Chapter fifteen

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Duo could not make heads or tails out of the old geezer. Amazingly, the old fart talked more than the youth ever did. In fact, the braided boy had hardly said three words since his phone call was disconnected. `Of course,' He thought while nodding at something Eli, that was the geezer's name, had spat out. The old man had a horrible habit of spitting while he talked, something that grossed Duo out completely. `I'm not exactly up to carrying on a conversation.' The boy grimaced, his hand going to his side.

"Yous are hurt bad, ain't cha boy?" Eli frowned, glancing at the braided boy.

"No." Duo denied, wincing as the old man drove through a huge pothole that was in the middle of the road. Duo couldn't believe the ancient rust bucket that Eli had called a truck actually ran. It seemed as if it would fall apart with every pothole and bump.

"You knows," The old man pondered, stroking the stubble on his chin, "That other boy was hurt bad too, couldn't even wake up."

That caught the braided boy's interest, "What other boy?" he asked.

Eli looked over at Duo. The boy had an intense look that went beyond pain in those odd colored eyes of his. "About a year ago, little blonde boy. Fell right out of the sky like you."

"Quatre…" Duo whispered amazed, momentarily forgetting his pain. "You saved Quatre…"

"He was all covered in blood, I drove him to the hosptile. Dunno what happened ta him." Eli frowned, "Anyways, yous should go."

"I'll be fine." The braided boy insisted grimacing as the truck jostled him around some more.

The old geezer shrugged, "A'rights. We should be there in a bit."

"I really appreciate this." Duo said.

"I needed my whiskey."

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Trowa and Quatre had returned from their errand an hour ago. They retired early to their room early, claiming to have had a hectic afternoon. Quatre had looked emotionally drained. Wu Fei had spent the day organizing the transfer to the new safe house, and had retired early too.

Hiiro lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He tried to sleep, repeatedly telling himself that the braided baka was fine and that as soon as Duo got home he was going to give him a piece of his mind. "Baka." Hiiro muttered, twisting in the sheets.

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The old truck crawled up the driveway, sounding every bit as if it were about to die. Duo looked up at the windows. `Everyone must have gone to bed.' He frowned noting the lack of lights, `Well don't everyone worry about me at once.'

"Yous live here?" Eli gawked at the three story mansion and the massive grounds that surrounded it.

Duo grinned, as he began to crawl out of the rust bucket, "For a while anyway. Hang on a minute and I'll go get your money." The boy turned and limped up the stairs, pausing at the top to enter a key code for the security system. A few minutes later, he returned, handing an envelope over to the old man. "Thanks again."

Eli opened the envelope and whistled when he saw how much cash was in it, "Whewee, that'll buy lots o' whiskey."

"You and your damned whiskey." Duo grinned, and waved as the truck putted back down the driveway. When it was out of sight, the boy's face twisted in pain, "Damn." He swore heading back inside.

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Hiiro heard an unfamiliar vehicle approaching the estate. Being as paranoid as ever, he retrieved his gun from under his pillow and crept over to the glass doors. Carefully as not to be seen, he peered out, and through the balcony railing. At first he didn't see anything, so he opened the door a crack and listened.

"You and your damned whiskey." The Japanese boy heard in a familiar tone.

Hiiro visibly relaxed.

Duo was home.

He lowered his weapon and walked out onto the balcony. He watched as the braided boy limped back to the house. Hiiro quirked an eyebrow, `He's limping?' Silently he went back through his room and down to the kitchen where the braided boy usually went after returning from a mission late.

"He's not here…" Hiiro scowled, flipping on the kitchen light.

The dark haired boy turned and went back upstairs to Duo's room. Considering that the boy might already be asleep, Hiiro pushed the door open without knocking. The room was empty, the window was opened. Hiiro's scowl deepened. "Baka."

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Duo stretched out lazily on the roof. His amethyst eyes were half closed as he looked up at the moon. He was home, but he couldn't sleep. `I just got too much on my mind…'He sighed, then winced in pain; his hand absentmindedly went to his side. `…and I hurt way too much! I must have cracked, or maybe even broken some ribs during that last hauling.' He thought, "When I destroyed Deathscythe…Damn I'll never hear the end of it."

"Never hear the end of what?" The stoic voice questioned, startling the American, causing him to jump. The Japanese boy sat down next to the braided boy, looking at him closely.

"Wha- augh!" Duo grimaced, almost curling on himself, "Jeeze, Hiiro! What are you doing here?"

"You didn't let us know you were home." Hiiro gave him a side ways glance, "You hurt?"

"Not bad." Duo shrugged easing himself back down, one arm pillowing his head while the other tried to hide his injuries.

Hiiro's eyes narrowed as he scowled at the braided boy, "Baka." He muttered, `He's either in immense pain, or something is on his mind…' Hiiro paused and thought about it, `or both.'

They stayed like that in silence for several minutes before Duo's voice, softer, more serious than usual spoke up. "Hiiro? What will you do now? The war is over and the Gundams are gone…"

"I'm not sure." Hiiro admitted. "I want to find out who's responsible for these attacks on us. They'll pay."

"But then what?" Duo pressed, "Will you go and stay with Relena?"

Hiiro shook his head, frowning, "Duo, what's bothering you?"

The amethyst eyes squeezed shut as a wave of pain passed through him. His fists balled.

Hiiro's eyes widened as he noticed blood seeping through the boy's shirt, "Duo!" He pushed the boy's hands away and ripped open his shirt, "There's blood everywhere! Duo!"

"You know…" The braided boy spoke softly, "Wu Fei's got the Preventers, Trowa's got Quatre… and you've got Relena…But what do I have? Nothing. Being a Gundam pilot was all I had…Before, I might have gone to stay with Hilde, but now, she's dead…I'm a homeless nobody. I might as well just die here and now."

"Don't talk like that, baka!" Hiiro snapped, taking off his tank top and trying to stop the flow, "How did this happen, Duo? Why didn't you get help if you knew you were injured?"

"It's not that bad…" Duo muttered, "You know… Professor G. always tells me that without the Gundam, I was nothing… Hell! I can't even be Shinigami without Deathscythe."

"G. is a foolish old man, Duo. You know that."

A dry wary laugh escaped the braided boy's throat as his eyes slid shut, "Lord of Pestilence…"

"DAMN IT, DUO!" Hiiro shouted at him, "Snap out of it!"

But the braided boy didn't answer, His head lolled to the side. His eyes were tightly shut.

"Duo! Duo!" Hiiro shook his shoulder, "Baka, you cannot survive the wars to die like this! You're stronger than that-Duo!"

The amethyst eyes cracked open and stared glassily at the other boy, "I… I promised Deathscythe that we'd go to Hell together or not at all… It seems as if Deathscythe is holding me to my word…>wince< …after all, Shinigami doesn't lie."

"You said it yourself, you're not Shinigami anymore…"

Hiiro's voice had a tinge of panic in it; something that Duo had never heard before. It took all of his fading strength to look the other boy in the eyes. Duo's mouth opened and closed slowly, but nothing came out.

"DUO!"

The boy's eyes had fallen shut again, and his body was still… frightfully still.

A sense of terror, something Hiiro Yui had never felt before, seized the Japanese boy. Hastily he gathered the limp boy into his arms and leapt off the roof to his balcony below. "TROWA! WU FEI!" He hollered racing down the halls of the safehouse.

"What is it, Yui?" Wu Fei scowled from his open bedroom door.

Hiiro skidded to a stop in front of the Chinese boy, "Duo- he's hurt!" Hiiro's dark cerulean eyes looked frightened.

Wu Fei scowled, `That's weird.' He thought. Aloud, he ordered that Hiiro take the braided baka to the infirmary while he called Sally.

Hiiro sped down the hall, grumbling, "Don't you dare die on me, you braided baka!"

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To be continued…