I do not own Gundam Wing.  This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.  

 

Chapter 12

 

The force of the bullet entering his body, tearing his flesh with white-hot pain, knocked Heero off balance. He fell backwards, against the wall, staining and streaking its pristine surface with angry blood as he sank down to the ground in a heap. His eyes glazed over in pain, but he forced himself to look up at Trowa.

Trowa lay forward over his executive-style desk, blood spilling down its side in a gory mess. Heero leaned back and closed bleary eyes. He just needed to rest them for a moment….

When they opened again, Trowa had changed positions. He seemed to have fallen to the ground, his lifeless body lying in a widening crimson pool. Zeches was ranting in the distance at someone…Quinze.

“Zeches….” Heero hissed. He reached out for the gun that had fallen from his blood-covered hand. He felt the cool metal in his palm and tried to raise it. But he couldn’t see his target over the large desk in front of him.

Ignoring the pain in his right shoulder, Heero tried to stand, leaning on the wall for support. He raised the gun painfully and aimed at Zeches, trying to keep his vision focused through the haze.

It was too late. Quinze saw him. Zeches turned and fired before Heero could get his shot off. The gun clattered to the ground, and Heero fell back, cradling his freshly wounded right hand. Zeches smirked and aimed again.

*          *         *          *          *          *          *          *          *         *

Duo and Treize made their way quietly down the hallway, listening for sounds of movement in the rooms they walked passed. Their pistols drawn, they checked every door. When they heard a gunshot, Duo took off running towards the source. Treize was close behind.

Duo kicked in the door to Trowa’s office. “FBI, Nobody move!”

Zeches’s gun went off, as Heero fell to the ground. Duo fired at Zeches, shattering the hand that held the weapon.  FBI agents swarmed into the room, weapons drawn.

While Treize and others took charge of arresting those left standing, Duo radioed for a medic and quickly crossed the room. Don’t die!

In his haste, he nearly tripped over a large Italian man lying on the floor, his dead eyes staring up at what they could no longer see.

He moved around to the side of the desk, and froze. His stomach turned at the sight that greeted him. Trowa lay on the ground sprawled out on his left side. His feet lay in a large pool of blood. Red, sticky handprints and streaks of gore gave testament to the fact that Trowa had been dragging his body towards the other side of the desk where he clutched Heero’s pant leg.

Heero had collapsed on the floor, his head hanging forward and his left arm still cradling his right hand. As Duo bent down to feel for a pulse, he noticed the shell stuck in the wall behind Heero’s body. Something about the scene nagged at the back of his mind.

“We’ve got two live ones back here!” He yelled to no one in particular and stood up. He looked over at the agents advising Quinze, Zeches, and the others of their rights, then back down at his friend. “Hold on, buddy. You’re going to be okay.” He whirled around as a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. At the doorway, stood Relena with a horrified expression on her face.

“Oh, God. She can’t see him like this,” Duo thought and vaulted over the desk to intercept her. He winced in pain as he landed on the wrong leg. He limped the rest of the way across the room.

“Duo?” She looked up at him with frightened eyes. “Where is he?”

“Relena, he’ll be fine,” he said soothingly, grasping her hands. “Why don’t you go wait outside?” He suggested, and searched the hallway for someone who didn’t look busy to take care of her. “Damn it, how did she get in here?” he wondered.

She was resisting his efforts to move her from the room, trying to see around him. “What do you mean? Is he hurt?” She asked worriedly, craning her neck to see behind him.

“Nothing too bad. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Just then, the paramedics rushed into view down the hallway. Duo shouted to them, momentarily forgetting Relena. She slipped through the narrow opening he had left between his body and the doorframe, and went further into the room.

She saw blood oozing out from around the side of the desk and screamed in terror. For an instant she was transported back to that convenience store, seeing crimson life seep from behind the counter, and knowing all too well what she would find there if she looked. Death. Heero was dead. She screamed again. “No, Heero, no!” She sunk down to her knees in the middle of the room.

Duo heard a scream and turned to see Relena in the middle of the room staring at something near the desk. “Shit!” he cursed and moved towards her.

The paramedics were right behind him. He reached her side as she fell to the ground. He bent down and grabbed her under the arms, trying to get her up to a standing position. “Relena, he’s going to be all right. Come on, we’re in the way, here. We need to let these guys work.”

She didn’t hear him. She just stared blankly ahead; he picked her up and carried her out to the hallway.

In a far corner of the room, Zeches watched the scene with a dark look on his face while a medic bandaged his blood-soaked hand.

Relena and Duo stood out in the hallway, while the paramedics worked. After what seemed like hours, but was probably closer to twenty minutes, Trowa was whisked by on a stretcher. Relena bit her lip as she saw him go by. He was so pale, and blood still stained much of his clothing. They had placed the portable oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, covering much of his face. Duo could see the concern in her eyes before she buried her face into his chest.

“Come on, Relena, let’s go. I’ll take you to the hospital. We can wait there.”

She nodded her acceptance and they started towards the exit. Two more medics rushed by with the stretcher carrying Heero. They practically ran over Relena in their haste; she had to jump back out of their way. When she saw him lying there, so lifeless and frail, the world pitched and swirled around her. Duo caught her before she hit the ground. “Heero.” She whimpered softly.

*          *         *         *         *         *         *         *         *

At the hospital, Heero and Trowa were taken immediately to surgery. Both were in critical condition after Zeches’s rampage. Trowa had sustained a gunshot wound to his left shoulder and upper part of his left arm. He had lost a lot of blood, as evidenced by the dark pools left on the floor of his study. The doctors had instantly given him a transfusion.

He was the first out of surgery, and Relena stood at his window watching over his frail form. She found it strangely comforting to be there and to be able to see his face. She glanced over at the entrance to the ICU, and noted that Treize had wasted no time in posting guards at his door. She closed her eyes and prayed.

Duo found her at the ICU window looking in on Trowa, and frowned. “No way am I going to let that happen while Heero’s in there fighting for his life.” He said to himself. “Hey, there you are,” he called out cheerfully.

Her head snapped up and her eyes opened wide, “Any word?” She asked him anxiously.

Duo shook his head. “I guess I shouldn’t have worried about her and Trowa,” he thought with a smile when he saw the look on her face.

“Nothing yet, but I’m sure he’s going to pull through just fine.”

“Oh,” she said softly, the concern evident on her face.

“Your father’s looking for you.”

Relena’s face darkened. “I have nothing to say to him. He and my brother can go rot in hell.”

Duo was surprised. Her quiet voice didn’t quite fit the harsh words spilling from her mouth. “Relena….”

“Duo. Please don’t tell him where I am. I don’t feel like dealing with that right now.”

“Dealing with what?” a deep voice sounded out in the hallway behind her.

Relena turned around. Treize and her father were walking towards them. “I don’t have anything to say to either of you.”

“Relena, dear, I know you must be upset. But you’ve been through quite an ordeal over the last week, and you need to rest. I’m sure this…boy of yours…”

“He’s a man, now, father. I think twenty-six is old enough to be considered a man,” she said coldly.

Duo glared at the governor. “No wonder Heero always hated this guy,” he thought.

A look of anger passed over Mr. Darlian’s face at his daughter’s words. “Actually, Relena, a man doesn’t toy with a young woman’s affections. Only boys do that.”

“Whatever you’re going to say, don’t bother. I won’t listen to you. I’m done listening to you.”

Duo’s face had gone pale, and he looked over at Treize. He could tell his superior didn’t like the turn this conversation had taken, either. “Hey, um, anybody hungry? I’m starved! All I’ve been eating is hospital food, and I could go for some real cuisine….”

The governor cut him off ruthlessly. “You were part of his job, you know. He was supposed to get close to you to get to me, Relena. Isn’t that right, Treize?”  His voice was stern and unyielding - ever the man in command.

Treize flinched. “Technically…that would be correct….”

Duo’s glare silenced him.

Relena turned away from them. Duo saw tears of hurt well up in her eyes. His heart sank in his chest. “Heero, man, I’m trying….”

“Come, now, Relena, let’s go home,” her father’s voice had turned sickeningly sweet, and he moved towards her to take her arm. “Before you make a bigger fool out of yourself over such a….”

“No!” She cried out, pushing him away, and turning around to face them once again. “I already told you, I have nothing to say to you! And there’s not anything you can have to say to me that I would want to hear. So just leave. All of you just leave me alone.” Her voice had started out angry, but had quickly waned to a tone of sad defeat.

Mr. Darlian took a step towards her.

“Did you hear what the lady said? She wants you to leave her alone.” Treize said in a commanding voice. He nodded at Duo and they escorted an angry governor out of the building.

Relena went over and sat down on one of the long narrow benches in the waiting room. She hugged her legs up to her chest, and rested the side of her face on her knees. She closed her eyes and waited.  “I won’t believe him this time, Heero.  Just come back to me.  Please come back…”