Trick-or-Treat (Ending #2)
Enigma
<<A voice seemed to be calling his name. "Maxwell," was all he could make out, though. Something warm and wet was on his face. No, not his face, his mouth.>>
"Duo! C'mon, wake up!" Heero's voice was insistent, but there was no response.
The Japanese pilot, frantic, searched for and found a weak erratic pulse. He quickly examined the body of his lover and was disturbed to find several injuries where bullets had penetrated, leaving bloodied trails behind. He couldn't tell if any were potentially lethal or not, though, without removing the torn remnants of black cloth and there simply wasn't time. He'd stripped off his own green tank top and had soaked it with water he had brought and was using it to wipe the blood off of Duo's face. The warm moist fabric roughly abraded the Deathscythe pilot's lips and resulted in a breakthrough.
"unghhh... " an inarticulate moan emanated from Duo's lips as he fought once more for consciousness.
"Duo! Wake up, damnit! We've got to get you out of here! Maxwell! Wake up!" The sharp slap of skin against skin brought Duo to awareness more fully.
"Huh? Heero, 'sat you?" Duo tried to open his eyes, but couldn't.
A slightly strangled scream came from behind Heero. "What did you hit him for, Yuy?!?" Quatre was incensed, the psychic connection was being held wide open so he could ascertain the damages to Duo's body and he had felt the slap as well.
"He's got to stay conscious, Quatre," Came the ice-cold reply. "He's got a concussion on top of the other injuries. If he's going to survive, he's got to stay awake."
"Oh, right," this wasn't really news, but Quatre needed to distance himself from Duo's pain and he shut down the connection. Wiping blood out of his own eyes, he returned his focus more clearly to the situation. Duo, however, was slipping away.
"Duo, drink this." Heero commanded holding a flask of bitter liquid to Duo's lips.
"Nani?" Duo mumbled as his mind shut down again but he gagged when Heero had taken the opportunity to pour the foul-tasting medicine into his open mouth. "Yuck!" Blinking in rage, he glared at his lover. "That shit's gross, Heero!"
Heero, however, looked singularly pleased. "Precisely, baka, it helps you stay awake, so it suits me. Now drink some more, then we can get you the Hell out of here."
Growling his displeasure at the thought of willingly drinking the disgusting stuff, Duo mumbled, "Yes sir!" And did as he was commanded, bringing a small smile of satisfaction to his lover. Heero seized the opportunity to reset the broken arm and Duo passed out promptly from the pain.
"Oh well," Quatre sighed as he and Heero loaded Duo's limp body into Wing's cockpit. "Guess he doesn't get to go to the club for Halloween tonight after all."
"Hn." Snorted Heero. "Did you really think I'd let him go out dancing without me anyway, Quatre?"
Smirking, Quatre answered, "How should I know, Heero? My Halloween plans got shot to Hell when Trowa pulled infiltration duty with Wufei. Guess you and I get to be Florence Nightingale tonight anyway, he's shot up pretty badly." Quatre was clearly worried. The uchuu no kokoro told him the American pilot's status was indeed borderline and it was no certainty he'd survive this battle's wounds.
Seriousness replaced the playful chatter as both youths stopped to look again at Duo Maxwell's broken body in the harness behind Heero's seat. "Afraid so." Heero commented. "But at least he's alive to complain about us not dressing up for the part later."
"True." Quatre lamented. "Well, let's get out of here. Once we get you two set up back at base, I'll be back for Deathscythe. Think you can handle medical duty yourself? It's going to be tough getting this mess out of here."
"Sure, Quatre, I can handle him. It's not like I haven't taken bullets out of him before. Besides," he smirked at his comrade who was preparing to give up on applying temporary bandages to the most heavily bleeding sites, there were just too many injuries to cover. "If worse comes to worse, I can always kiss sleeping beauty there to get him to wake up. That concussion's a bitch!"
Shaking his head at what his two friends considered the perfect relationship, Quatre remarked, "Well, Heero, just don't hit him again. 'Trick or treat' is just an idea for Halloween not an excuse to beat each other up!"
Laughing, they were both relieved Duo had even survived; the odd jokes would never have made sense to outsiders, but it was a way to control the cold fear that this wasn't over just yet. Heero's last comment was, "Hell, if he wants a 'treat', he'll just have to get better quickly, now wont he?"
"Yeah, right." Quatre's smile was grim once more. "Wonder if that'll be before too awfully long or not? That is, assuming he lasts the night."
Heero, scowling his displeasure at the very thought of losing his violet-eyed lover, kicked Wing Gundam into full speed and headed back to their base.
