As always, I do not own Gundam Wing or anything associated with it. However, a few nights ago I did buy some pizza that tasted like motza with cheese on it! This story is dedicated to Sister Bennie and Sister Theresa who endlessly tormented me in high school and are two of my inspirations for writing. Now on with the fic!
The door was heavy, so heavy that Duo could barely push it open. It stood over eight feet tall and was made of a very heavy metal decorated with ornate bronze carvings. He at first had idly wondered why a rather small building like this would need such large doors, then he realized it was a church. “Damn church doors,” He grunted, remembering how the doors at the Maxwell Church had been heavy like this too. The braided Gundam pilot pushed his body against the door again, but it didn’t budge. He had already had a hell of a time unlocking it with bombs exploding nearby and bullets ricocheting over his head. The smell of his own blood clinging to him didn’t help much either.
OZ had actually done something helpful by evacuating the citizens of the small town. If they hadn’t, most of them would be dead by now. This whole scenario had been nothing but a plot to exterminate the Gundam pilots, but Duo and the other four were not about to go down very easily. They had split up after landing their mobile suits and hopefully they would be able to find each other later. The American had already been injured and his wounds were hurting worse and worse as time went on.
As Duo pushed against the heavy door for what seemed like the millionth time, his right leg throbbed in pain from a bullet wound, and his broken ribs seemed to shrink, making his air supply almost non-existent. Finally the door opened just enough for him to slip through. He looked back for a moment, hoping the others were as lucky as he was in finding a safe place to hide.
Pain shot through his entire right leg as the door slammed shut behind him. He winced and fought back a cry as he stumbled forward, barely catching himself on a circular marble structure. ~~A baptismal font! ~~ Duo thought with relief. ~~Water! ~~ He carefully lifted the dusty gold lid and set it down gently on the cold dirty tile. He plunged one hand into the large bowl, but frowned, finding it empty. “Chukuso!” Duo hissed as he climbed slowly back to his feet. He clenched his teeth tightly, refusing to let any sound of pain escape him as pain radiated through his body again. He tried to right himself and walk forward, but the unceasing spasms in his leg and ribs increased as he fell next to the fountain.
“Get up,” The American moaned only to himself as he tried desperately to stand again. “Comon baka…You can’t die here. The others would make fun of you…” He grasped his right leg with one hand, feeling blood still flowing down the back of it from the bullet wound. Walking on it for the past hour and a half hadn’t been a good idea. It had allowed blood to seep into his knee joint and become extremely painful. His ribs had been injured earlier while he was still piloting Deathscythe. “Damn OZ…” Duo muttered as he grasped the cold marble of the fountain. “Th-they set us up…They wanna get rid of all of us at once…no witnesses.” A pathetic whimper finally slipped from his throat as he forced himself to stand again.
As he stood and raised his head, he got a good look at the whole church for the first time. It obviously hadn’t been in use for quite some time. A thin layer of dust covered everything, no lights were on, and it was cool and damp. The only source of light was from fourteen stained glass windows that circled the whole church. Duo recognized twelve of them having an image of each of Christ’s apostles with their names inscribed in Latin at the bottom. A small circular pattern in the very front of the church had the design of a rose, and the largest one in the back was an image of the Holy Family. There were ten rows of pews on each side of him and four an old style pillar stood next to the first and last pew on both sides. At the end of the very center isle was a small but beautifully carved mahogany altar with a large white and gray marble crucifix behind it on the wall. To the right side of the altar stood a very old looking gold tabernacle, wide open and completely empty.
“I’m sure you won’t mind if I stay,” Duo’s voice broke the cold silence as he looked back at the cross. “Doesn’t look like anybody’s going to be stopping here soon anyway.” He walked from the baptismal font to the closest pew and moaned as he started towards the cross. “Don’t worry,” he assured the unanswering crucifix as he continued forward. “I’m Catholic…Even though I haven’t been in a church since I was eight.” He pulled his gold cross from under his shirt and smiled at it. “See?” Duo said, hearing only his own echo in reply. “Sister Helen gave this to me…but it was a really long time ago.”
A wave of pain threatened to overcome the American pilot as he let himself fall into the first pew. His leg hurt so badly now, he probably wouldn’t be able to walk on it by morning, and his ribs may have punctured something since he felt blood in his throat, trying to force its way out. Duo moaned softly and closed his eyes. Maybe resting for a little while wouldn’t be such a bad idea. He leaned back against the hard pew and closed his eyes.
Only seconds passed before there was a loud bang from outside and the door swung open, pushed by three OZ soldiers. Duo’s reaction time was still quick enough that he was up and under the pew before anyone could have seen him. They couldn’t possibly of found him already! Voices of soldiers filled the whole building, from what Duo could hear, there were probably six of them. He calmly and silently stretched out the length of his body under the pew’s shadow and listened to their conversation.
“I know that damn sneaky Gundam pilot is in here somewhere!” An angry man’s voice boomed. “He won’t get away! None of you will be leaving here until we find him! Understood?”
“Yes sir!” Came five replies.
Footsteps began to track in every direction. Duo held his breath, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed. He saw several different pairs of feet pass him on the right, but none stopped. Cautiously, he pushed himself up by his elbows and reached one hand into his back pocket and pulled his loaded gun from it. It probably wouldn’t be able to do him too much good. He only had five bullets left and there were six soldiers. In his current state, it would be difficult for Duo to aim to kill anyway. He lay completely still with his stomach on the cold tile floor. He held one finger firmly on the gun’s trigger and placed the other arm under his broken ribs. All he could do was simply hope the soldiers would leave without finding him.
Twenty of the longest minutes of his life passed and Duo heard the soldiers complaining that they couldn’t find the pilot of Gundam Zero-Two. He never moved, never made a sound even though footsteps would come within inches of him, then slowly walk away. They still had not found him after all that time and the soldiers were beginning to grow restless.
“He’s not here,” One soldier said. “Let’s leave and go look for the other four.” The other four soldiers agreed and waited for the older man in charge to speak.
“Everyone make one more sweep around this place,” The older man said gruffly. “Then we’ll go.”
Duo watched cautiously as each pair of feet passed him once then walked to the door. He heard them leave and heard the door slam shut behind them, leaving almost everything dark again. Suddenly he heard a noise; He had counted wrong! Duo gasped as a pair of heavy footsteps came closer and closer. A pair of large army boots stopped right at his head and turned to face him directly. The braided pilot swallowed hard and held his breath as the person owning the boots started to kneel to look under the pew. He heard a gun click and saw the tip of a silver revolver from his hiding spot.
Duo gasped.
~~NO! ~~
