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Never Too Late	By : Ardra Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Yaoi - Male/Male > Heero/Duo Views: 911 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own GW or any characters, names or all that jazz. I so wish that I did, though. No profit is made from this story. Not a penny.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
Chapter 3- Nightmare

He was so comfortable. It was a phrase he hadn't used to describe how he felt for a long time. Floating in an abyss of darkness, he felt wonderful and didn't want to move from where he was. This must be heaven or something similar to it because he didn't want to leave. Idly, he wondered where he would have been sent to after all that he had done over the years. The people he'd killed and things like that. It was a thought process that he had always had when he found something good about his life, even if it only lasted for the briefest of moments.
"Kid?"
He tensed a little and felt the ground rushing up to meet him. He winced as his back hit a cold, unfamiliar surface before something else was draped over him, making him feel an equally unfamiliar warmth. It traveled from his arms, over his chest and down the length of his body. He was still comfortable so he didn't see the harm in staying where he was until a familiar facec loomed over him.
Shoulder length blonde hair framed the young face of his first real friend and protector. He gazed at the youth for a few seconds before he gave him a crooked smile. Solo rolled his eyes at the smile. He knew Duo only smiled like that when he was doing something that he knew he shouldn't. Or he was being lazy, which was another thing he shouldn't be doing.
"Hey, Sol. Come to join me?"
"You know I haven't, kid." Solo replied with a frown.
Duo rolled his eyes, yawning as he cuddled into the invisible warmth, which started to feel like a very thin blanket to him, something he hadn't had for a long time, "God, this feels good."
"Kid, you have to wake up! Now!"
"No, I don't. I like it here."
Solo didn't say anything else. Duo opened one eye to look up at his friend, wondering why he was suddenly so quiet. Solo never gave in on something, especially not when he sounded so urgent. Above him, Solo had changed into the very man that had tortured him for so long. Reality collided with Duo, his body suddenly went into a spasm of pain, he could feel his skin drying. His lips felt dry and he went to lick them, but his tongue was dry, too. Depth perception failed him as one eye became swollen closed.
"Solo? Sol?! Where did you go! Solo, come back!" he yelled, his body hurting more and more as the man loomed over him, "No! No, stay away!"
He pushed himself up onto his hands and crawled out from under the man's penetrating gaze. Duo felt his breathing turn into panting wheezes, his chest began to hurt right where his heart was. He fell back, crying out in pain as he clutched his chest and stomach that was dipped past his ribs.
"No! No!"
The man walked calmly over to him, a gleam of something in his hand made Duo look at him with his one good eye. He felt fear grip him for a second before pain blossomed from his right arm, the bone grinding against another bone as it was shifted. His hips screamed in agony and Duo was powerless but to watch the man point the gleaming thing at him; a gun. Duo swallowed thickly, trembling from head to toe as he looked down the barrel of the weapon that was poised to strike.
"Solo?" he cried out one more time, the trigger being pulled back, he clenched his eyes closed, waiting for the trigger to slam home and fire the bullet, "Heero..."
BANG!
On the gurney, Duo let out a wailing scream. He tried to move but he was tied down to the mobile bed and couldn't get loose. He struggled, feeling bone grinding on bone and every nerve in his body hurt like hell. He twisted one way, only for a pair of hands to push him back onto his back and wrestle him into being still.
"No!" Duo screamed, struggling to get away from the hands and the straps, "No!"
The medics looked at each other and went back to trying to restrain the young man as the nurse that rode with them began drawing a syringe of clear liquid. Duo looked over at the third person and let out a petrified scream. They were going to drug him, to poison him, again! As the needle got close, he screamed and thrashed around again until his tiny arm slipped from the restraints.
He made to grab the needle, to defend himself but the man was too far away. Letting out a frustrated cry, Duo laid back on the bed, trying to wriggle his way out from under the combined weight of the two men that were now practically laying on top of him. Suddenly, a caloused hand grabbed his face then the other joined in on the other side.
"Shh. It's okay, Duo. They're going to help you." Came a soothing, familiar voice.
He forced his good eye open and looked up into the saddened green eyes that were looking down at him. He felt his heart skip a beat as the realization of what, or rather who, he was seeing hit him like a ton of bricks.
"T-Trowa?" He whimpered, swallowing dryly, "P-please... Don't let them."
"It's okay. They're going to make you feel better."
Duo whimpered as he felt the burning sensation of the needle enter his skin. He stared at the vision in front of him, his bad eye burning as tears streamed down his face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd seen Heero as a hallucination a few times before but he'd never seen Trowa or any of the others. To see what he was seeing, he felt hope blossom in his chest again after so long.
"You... you found me." Duo said softly, reaching up and grabbing the sleeve of Trowa's Preventer's uniform.
Nodding, Trowa let go of his face and took up his withered away hand, wincing as he felt broken bones grinding against eachother under the skin. After a few seconds, Duo was unconcious once more, laying silently on the bed. Jaw clenched, Trowa gently laid the hand he had been holding down onto the bed and climbed out of the ambulance. He backed up enough to where the paramedics were able to get Duo out of the truck and rushed him into the hospital.
Once the group was gone with Duo, Trowa turned and headed back to the parking lot where Wufei was helping Heero out of the car. The former Wing pilot was walking mechanically, not even seeming to notice or care about what was happening around him. Trowa walked over and helped Quatre out of the car, holding the small blond close to him as he closed the vehicle door behind him. Once inside the emergency room, Trowa directed the other three to chairs and had them all sit down. He made sure they were all situated before he went to the front desk to a woman behind a computer screen who was typing very quickly.
"Excuse me. There's a young man that was just brought in. Severely emaciated. His name is Duo Maxwell." he said.
The woman nodded her head, not stopping her typing until a few keystrokes later and then looked up at Trowa, "I'm sorry, sir. We haven't admitted anyone with the name Duo Maxwell."
"You would have him as a John Doe. He was just brought in by the ambulance."
"Sir, do you realize how many people we get in that entrance a day?" The woman asked impatiently.
"I don't care. I'm talking about the man that was just brought in. Sickly thin, malnourished."
The woman sighed impatiently and began to look at something on her computer. She was quiet then sighed, "We have three John Does that are currently being treated."
"I don't care. I am talking about one in specific. I'm trying to give you his information so you don't make him worse or kill him!" Trowa could feel his patience wearing thin with this woman.
The woman started to say how she couldn't put the information in unless she knew which John Doe it was when Sally walked into the emergency room, her face set as she approached Trowa.
"Sally." The taller male said, looking at her in relief.
"I heard from Zechs. How is he?"
"Not good. Can you treat him?" Trowa asked, ignoring the sputtering of the woman behind him.
"I'll see what I can do." Sally promised before she headed into the back of the Emergency room.
Trowa nodded after her and went to sit down beside Quatre, who was glaring a hole into the chair across from him. Leaning his head back, Trowa closed his eyes in hopes of catching a little rest before anything was told to him. His body felt like it weighed a ton, like he was going through the G-force of leaving the atmosphere. His head was screaming at him, pounding horribly against his skull. His eyes watered a little because of the pain, and the chair pressed into the back of his neck, but he ignored it. He didn't have the energy to do anything about it or move.
Trowa jerked awake, gasping slightly as he felt the hand jostle his shoulder. His body tensed, ready to strike before a familiar voice broke through his start.
"Easy, Trowa. It's Sally."
Emerald green eyes turned to her before he sighed softly. He used the heel of his hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes. His mind was still a sleep deprived mess until what had happened earlier suddenly came flooding back to him. He sat upright, taking in his surroundings before his gaze landed on her once more. "How is he?"
Sally gave a quick glance to his left before she motioned for him to follow her. Getting up, Trowa winced as joints painfully popped back into place and became loose where they had stiffened up. He glanced at the others and was happy to find that all of them were asleep.
Quatre was curled in his chair like a cat, legs tucked to his chest and kept that way by hooking his ankles into the chair's arms. His wrists were crossed and pressed to his chest as if he was protecting his heart. Wufei was sitting sideways in his chair, arms crossed and head leaning into the wall behind his chair. Heero was sleeping with his arms crossed too, his chin on his chest, breathing evenly. His feet were crossed at the ankles. Turning back to Sally, he followed her down the hall until she seemed to deem them far enough away from the other three to give the news to the Latin boy.
"Why did we have to be so far away from the others?" Trowa asked softly.
"Because you're the only one that seems stable enough to hear this. Heero's too close to this. Wufei is off, probably guilt, and Quatre's too extreme in his emotions." she said softly, holding her clipboard almost protectively to her chest, eyes glazed with sadness.
Trowa just stood there for a while, thinking over what he should and shouldn't ask. He wanted to know, he wanted to help Duo but truthfully he was terrified of what Sally would tell him. He'd seen Duo and how he looked. He was afraid to know what lay beneath what little shreds of clothing he was wearing.
They all spent five years under this self made delusion that Duo just didn't want to be around them. That he was happy where he was and he would make a living like he was supposed to, like a young man. The truth was much more horrifying and it caused Trowa to wish that it really was that Duo had wished to sever ties with them rather than this. What he had seen, he wouldn't wish on his worse enemy. No one deserved to look like that, especially not someone as happy and adventurous as Duo. He swallowed hard, choking down the bile that rose in the back of his throat as he remembered how Duo looked again. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.
"How... is he?" he asked softly, wanting to scold himself as his voice hitched with emotions.
"Technical terms or do you want me to lay it on you easy?"
"Just... tell me in a way that I will understand it." Trowa replied.
Sally nodded her head, took a deep breath of her own and glanced at the notes she had on her clipboard. She squared her shoulders, looking back up at Trowa as if trying hard to find a reason not to tell him how bad is was for their found friend.
"His liver is shot. He's going to need a transplant and with his condition as it is, I don't see the donation commitee granting him one." She began, shaking her head sadly.
While Sally told Trowa of the medical diagnoses, no one noticed that Heero had woken up from his sleep. Blue eyes looked around, unsure of where he was. Above his head, a rather shrill voice talked rather incoherently into the speakers. He listened to the garbled nonsense, letting it sink in but didn't really understand what was being said. He remembered why he was here and stood up, his emotions all over the place as images of the condition of the man he found in that room entered his head.
Swallowing, Heero unhooked his ankles and stood. He had to find Duo. He had to see and make sure that he was still alive. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something had happened right under his nose again. He needed to get to a computer to find out what he could about Duo's condition. Especially which room he was in. Looking down the hall to where a nurse was at the registry desk, he began to think of how he could get to that computer in order to use it. He was almost done with a plan when a man dressed in green scrubs walked over to her. The two talked for a few seconds then the woman rose from her chair and followed the man down the other end of the hall.
What luck. Heero quickly made it to the desk and sat before the computer. It took only seconds for him to hack his way into the system and bring up the search bar. He typed in Duo's name, silently praying to himself that he had been admitted in time. The search came up with a name, and a room number. He didn't even bother to log out as he almost ran to the room.
Inside, he found who he was looking for. Or, he believed it was the man that he was looking for. He didn't look anything like his old self. His once beautiful braid of hair was completely shaved off. There was a square bandage on the top of his head that was slightly pinking in the middle. His face was swollen from the abuse he had sustained, especially the right side of his face, which had turned into a horrible purple color. Both his arms were in casts from the elbow down to the fingers, which were in little clamps that doubled as finger casts.
His chest was bound in a cast as well, he could see the starts of it peeking out from under the blanket that was draped over him. He couldn't see much else, there were wires attached to him that lead to a monitor on either side of his bed. He looked so fragile in the bed like that, especially as thin and sickly as he was.
Swallowing hard, Heero made his way over to the bed and sank into a chair beside it. Reaching out, he ran the tip of his finger down the side of his face, wincing at how rough and yellow the sunken face was compared to his finger.
"Duo?" he asked softly, looking at the sleeping form, "Duo. I don't know if you can hear me. I hope you can. I'm so sorry. I should've looked harder for you. I shouldn't have given up. I should've pressed forward. Why didn't I press further than I did? This all happened to you because of me."
The person on the bed remained still and silent. The only sound that could be heard in the nearly empty room was the steady beeping of the monitors. He gently touched the fingers sticking out of the cast of the arm closest to him and swallowed thickly, trying to quel his emotions. This wasn't what he wanted for the other that laid on this bed. He wanted him to be happy. For him to have made a life, not have his taken away like it had been. Sighing, Heero laid his head down beside the arm, being careful not to put any pressure on it.
He laid like that for a while until something stirring caught his attention. Lifting his head, he saw Duo slowly opening his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. Heero felt his heart leap in his chest then sat up, looking at the one violet eye, "Duo?"
"'right... Is so 'right." Duo murmured, turning his head from the lights that hung innocently from the ceiling.
Almost at once, Heero shot out of his chair and turned the lights off for him. Once the room was incased in darkness, he returned to his seat as Duo glanced around. Heero couldn't help but feel a pang of hope as his head turned to him, looking at him with the one good eye.
"Hi, 'Ro..." Duo muttered softly, "What're you... doing here?"
Heero smiled a little, then stood up so Duo didn't have to strain himself to see him, "I'm here to check on you. Make sure that you are okay and comfortable."
"Ah. My body 'urts." Duo murmured, shifting in the bed a little.
"How bad?"
Duo winced, swallowing hard. Before he could even speak the machine attached to him blared to life, sounding a high pitched, rapidly beeping alarm. The heart monitor was going haywire, the heart rate escalating out of control. Duo opened his mouth to cry out but no sound came as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His body spammed before it suddenly went limp in the bed, the beeping turning into a long, resounding tone as the heart rate flat lined.
"No! Duo!" Heero cried out.
He felt hands grab him roughtly and push him aside. He stumbled, losing his footing and slammed into the wall near the door. He gathered himself onto his knees, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest, but there was also a tightness around his lungs. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think. He could only watch as Sally attempted to revive Duo via invasive procedures of liquid adrenaline and anything else but it didn't work.
Heero didn't see them come out but Sally had some how gotten her hands on paddles and had them charging by the time Heero came to realize what they were.
"Clear!" she shouted, the doctors and nurses leaping back as if Duo was a poisonous snake.
Heero could see the bandages that had been wrapped around Duo's chest for his lungs were cut open. The paddles were placed one over the right side of his chest, or rather over his right lung, the other pressed towards the bottom of the left side of Duo's ribcage. He heard the thump of the shock and Duo's body jerked back to life for a few precious seconds. The machine told of two thumps of his heart before it flat lined again. The nurses and doctors attacked him again, pulling wires away and pulling the bandages out of the way as Sally charged the paddles again.
A hand landed on his shoulder and he literally let out a startled yelp. Heero ripped his eyes from the sight and faced the startled expression of a nurse with long, red hair that was tied back in a ponytail.
"Sir, you can't be in here." She said, voice shaking.
"Clear!" Sally shouted behind him.
Heero whipped his head to Sally as the thump sounded in his ears. Duo's body jerked again. There was a pause where it seemed like time stood still as the machine sounded off one weak beat, then two beats, three, four, five...
"We have Sinus rhythm. I want him on another saline drip, and adrenaline until we find out what made his heart stop. Leslie, get Heero out of here."
Heero felt the nurse pull hiim out of the room, only realizing what had happened after the door closed in his face.
"No! What's going on with Duo? Duo!"
"Mr. Yuy, there's nothing you can do. Please, return to the waiting room and Sally will tell you when she knows more." The nurse said, looking at him with sympathy.
Heero felt the hands pull him up and take him back to the waiting room. He didn't remember being handed to Trowa and Zechs, he didn't remember Wufei and Quatre fussing over them. He didn't remember the two sitting him down, or telling them that Duo coded. It was like he was in a dream, just floating, his mouth working against his will. He heard himself say Sally revived him and listened to the barrage of questions he didn't know the answers to before he closed his eyes and remembered no more. The darkness consuming him for the second time that night. His dreams now a nightmare of Duo being completely gone from this world, him being without that light. He couldn't even imagine it, but his nightmares did, and they spared no expense in showing him.

I hope you enjoyed it. It's a little on the short side, but I think it will be okay for now. Reviews are loved! More reviews, the more inspiration I have for this project so keep them coming. I love your faces and I will have a new update soon.
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Never Too Late