By Kaycee Ronin
Again I sadly don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters, so don't sue me please. I don't really own anything except for the pile of junk on my desk and the load of junk food I stuff into one cabinet. Now on with the fic!
Duo closed his eyes and held his breath, hoping that the inevitable wouldn’t happen. ~~I don’t wanna die yet! ~~ He thought, his mind racing with panic. ~~I can’t die yet! I’m not ready to! ~~ He grasped his gun more tightly and opened one eye. The silver gun was just inches from his head and the soldier’s face was right behind that. ~~Iie! ~~ The American screamed in his mind. He had never had such overwhelming fear take over like this. Of course, he had always expected to die in battle in Deathscythe, not wounded and hiding, hoping to be able to prolong his life just a bit longer.
Duo closed his eyes tightly again. Maybe this was just a dream and he would wake up. It wasn’t. Something cold and metallic brushed against his arm and it took everything he had not to cry out. This was it, in a few seconds the soldier would see him and then he would be dead. He cracked one eye open and glanced at the gun being held steadily mere inches from his body. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes again and directed his face at the floor. The safety clicked off and Duo cringed, waiting to hear the gunshot. Nothing, not even one of those miracles Heero always seemed to be able to pull would save him now.
“Hey!” A woman’s voice broke the tense silence. Duo hadn’t heard the door open again. Where did she come from? “Hey!” The voice called again. The soldier straightened and turned around. “How did you get in here?” The woman asked.
“Well the, uh…door,” The soldier replied uncertainly. He was young, Duo could tell he was definitely a new recruit, maybe only a couple years older than he was.
“What are you doing with that gun?” The woman demanded. “This is a church, you shouldn’t have that in here!”
“I’m looking for someone.“ The soldier replied, regaining his composure.
“Well there is no one here right now but me.”
“No, there—“
“I must ask you to leave sir. I don’t know why you have that gun in here and I don’t want to. So please leave before I have to call the authorities.”
The soldier grunted and muttered an unintelligible response. Duo sighed silently with relief and made a quick sign of the cross, but it was too soon. A heavy boot came flying at him and connected with his side. His eyes went wide with pain and he tried to cry out, but the kick had taken all of his air. “You’re sure lucky this time kid,” The soldier said loudly, sneering as he looked down. “By some miracle you'll live for now...but you won’t elude OZ forever.” The soldier fired his gun into the tile, causing a few small chunks to go flying in several directions. Duo jumped slightly and the woman cried out in surprise.
“Get out of here!” The woman shouted. “I won’t allow any more destruction of this property!”
“Fine sister,” The soldier replied cockily and he laughed as he walked to the door. “But next time, I suggest you watch who you’re yelling at. I was just trying to protect you from a dangerous criminal.”
The woman did not reply as the sound of the heavy boots faded and the door heavily opened, then slammed.
Duo didn’t move for a few minutes as he tried to catch his breath. That kick hadn’t helped his current health status. His already broken ribs hurt worse and a few more were now bruised or cracked. Eventually, he forced his body to cooperate and slid out from underneath the pew. He didn’t bother to brush himself off as he got up, so his entire body and most of his hair had traces of dust. Duo coughed a few times and felt blood sputter from his lips. ~~ This is bad. ~~ He thought as he placed both hands on the end of the pew to support himself. He was going to need medical help very soon and he knew it. There was no way his injuries now would heal on their own. ~~ This is very very bad. ~~
Suddenly he heard soft footsteps coming towards him. Duo tightened his grip on his gun again and slowly turned around and came face to face with a young nun. His gun was aimed right between her eyes. She let out a startled cry and looked at him in fear, but she seemed to calm down as the gun was lowered.
“Gomen,” Duo murmured. “I thought you were someone else.”
She couldn’t have been any older than late twenties. She was short and pale with light blue eyes and strands of long brown hair hanging down from under her black habit. The nun looked at Duo curiously for a moment before she spoke. “Who are you? You look a bit young to be a priest,” She said calmly, regarding Duo’s clothes. She glanced briefly at his gun to make sure it wasn’t going to be moving in her direction any time soon.
“I…uh, I’m not a priest, I'm just Duo.” He said quickly, but in a softer, much more pain-filled tone than his usual one. Despite the pain though, he managed to smile at her. “Y-you look a bit young to be a nun,” He murmured.
"A flatterer, ne? Not all nuns are old ladies you know. Duo...is it? My name is Therese. Sister Therese Dovair." She smiled at him for a moment, then her expression changed to one of concern. “You’re the one that man was looking for.” She continued, “What have you done that he was after you with a gun?”
“N-nothing,” Duo murmured weakly, feeling his leg start to give out on him again. He dropped his gun and reached backwards, trying to find the end of the pew to hold him up again.
Sister Therese walked a little closer. “Are you alright?” She asked with concern. Duo tried to force a smile as he gave her a slight nod.
~~Baka,~~ He thought to himself. ~~It's a sin to lie to a nun. ~~ Duo felt his body entirely give up on him and he fell backwards, landing on the pew. He gasped as pain seared into his ribs from the impact, and his leg from actually trying to stand on it. He kept his eyes open long enough to see the nun’s concerned face over him. Her lips were moving, but he couldn't make out what she was saying.
“Funny,” He murmured dazedly. “The Virgin Mary. I didn’t think I’d be heading to heaven…”
He laughed to himself at his own joke...Then everything became black.
