Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wherever You Will Go ❯ Another Arrival ( Chapter 15 )

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Tap…thud. Tap…thud. A bottomless chasm lay beneath his flailing feet, and a sense that he was falling was the first thing that overrode his dulled senses. The next thing was feeling - an arena of pain that rode him around and again in circles. The feeling brought a repetitive thumping - his feet…?

Duo snapped his hazy eyes open, and was overcome by an intense wave of vertigo. The repetitive thumping, he noticed, was his limp legs dropping time and again from stair to stair - the toes of his shoes tapping in a steady rhythm.

He tensed, overcoming the very solid barrier of pain, trying to support some of his own weight. The effort was further emphasised when the dark navy burnish to the OZ uniform jumped out at him, a pair of legs on either side striding evenly, strong arms supporting his own lagging weight by each shoulder.

Through a somewhat continuous dreamlike state, Duo struggled under the unrelenting pressure, only causing himself more pain in the process. His ribs stabbed sharply, and one of his legs - not to mention his shoulder - burned with a newly ignited flame. The white, wispy haze around the corners of his vision did not recede at his attempts to awaken, but instead intensified.

Quite suddenly, the tapping cadence stopped, and he felt his progression down seemingly endless steps halt.

"Wait," a stiff voice called to his left. The rock-hard grip on his arms lessened, then diminished, and instead he felt himself supported by one person, and not two. He continued to struggle helplessly, though feeling too weak to really make any significant difference. He was not going to be caught!

"Stop it," said a familiar voice, and a face crouched in front of him. A dark shock of messy and tousled hair matching ice blue eyes tipped forward, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Duo?" The braided boy relaxed, at one recognising the familiar nasal voice. Memory at once flooded back to him. The roof, the escape, his fight…Heero…two voices…?

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"Duo? Can you hear me?" Heero could barely keep the worry out of his voice as he tried to catch the drifting eyes of his partner. The American boy would not, or simply could not meet his eyes, and again the Japanese boy couldn't help but notice the blood-soaked clothing, the blood soaked braid.

Heero looked up into the equally concerned ebony eyes of the Chinese boy, Wufei. The Shenlong pilot attempted a shrug, and shook the American boy ever so slightly. The brief movement elicited a soft moan from the boy he supported. Wufei frowned first at Heero and then at the boy he held; Duo was not usually like this, let alone Heero.

"Maxwell?"

Wufei…that's who it was…and Heero! God, calm down! Sudden recognition seemed to snap, and the violet-eyed pilot raised his head weakly, groaning yet again at the effort.

"Shit, 'Fei. Did'ya have to go an' do that?" The usually enigmatic voice was slurred, and barely intelligible. But in moments, even as Heero watched, the solid mask of the soldier somehow found its way back into the injured boy's eye, and he grinned suddenly at the boy who knelt before him, but did not say a word. He was simply too tired, and in too much pain - not like he was going to deliberately show it, though.

Duo squinted, trying to decipher the emotions flitting across the Japanese pilot's face. Concern? Duo shook his head lightly to shake off the illusion, and closed his eyes briefly in order to shake off the light-headed pounding in his head. The worry he perhaps saw probably had something to do with his slowly abating double vision.

"Duo?" Heero tried again.

"H-hai?" He was too tired to act angry, though he still was. There would be time later, he surmised. Right now though, he just wanted to rest.

"Daijoubu?"

"'M fine, Heero."

"Oh sure, baka. Just like last time I asked."

Duo glared, his anger beginning to resurface despite his lack of conviction. If there was one thing he hated, it was being called weak by Heero Yuy. "No really, Heero. Let me walk, I c'n do it." There was an unsteady lilt to his words that duo didn't like - despite his make and façade, it betrayed how unsteady he was really feeling.

"Hn." Typical, Duo thought. "Fine then. You can walk if you can tell how many fingers am I holding up."

Surprised at even the possibility of being allowed to support his own weight, Duo floundered before trying to make out the hazy hand that hung just before his eyes. He should have been able to make out anything that distance from his face, but under the circumstances, he was finding it hard to even breath comfortable, let alone raise his eyes. Before he could even begin to make out one blur from the other, however, within seconds Heero removed the fingers from the other boy's line of sight.

He stood stiffly at the lack of response, and once again shouldered his share of the injured pilot's weight. He indicated that they again start moving in case they were discovered, again walking at a stead pace down the stairs.

"Not…fair," he heard Duo mutter as he once again went completely limp in their grasp.

Heero shared a worried look with Wufei, and they hastily increased their pace down the stairwell of the 'emergency exit', seeking someplace safe so they could aid their quite injured companion.

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Okay, quite a short chapter, I know…but more coming soon, I promise!

Man; only one or maybe two more chapters to go. Hope you all like how it's going / how I'm writing.

Please REVIEW…I love to know what you guys think!

Cheers!

§kaara!