Please Don't Let me Fall Part 2
Fallen Contact
/ So cold. /
/ I hate snow. /
Heero staggered back in the direction of his Gundam. The spirit/vision/hallucination had left him, leaving him hurting, friendless, and freezing his ass off. He could only walk a few steps at a time without feeling the world reel around him, so he took it slow, falling to his knees when he had to because he knew there was no one around to see him. By the time he made it back to Wing, blackness was eating around the edge of his vision and red spots flickered across the rest. He was breathing hard, blood running down the side of his head again and small pieces of shrapnel in his shoulder that stung badly whenever he moved.
The cockpit orb of Wing was shattered, but the opening mechanism was jammed. Heero had to climb through the broken kleersteel, cutting himself on shards of the strong glass-like material. He found a small penlight under the dashboard of his Gundam and used it to search in the dark cockpit for the two-way communications console. He curled up in the pilot's seat and inspected it. It looked a little damaged, but not to the point--Heero hoped--of being unoperational. He got to work, forcing himself to remain conscious.
"God damned snow!" Duo cursed over the comlink. He continued on, using every curse he had ever learned on L2, and every Japanese curse word he had ever heard out of Heero. Heero had never translated, but Duo had looked them up. He now used them pretty well. "K'so! Kisama! Fuck!"
"Maxwell, calm down. You're acting like a weak, hysterical onna," Wufei said calmly.
"Fuck you, Wuffie! We have a buddy down and all you can say is calm down?!? If there is a time to panic, this would be the time, don't you agree?!" Duo snarled back.
"He's right, Duo," Trowa said abruptly, shocking the other three as he continued to scan the area. "Cursing the situation won't change it. And it won't help to find Heero."
"Ooooh, so now Mute-boy speaks," Duo said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Listen to Trowa, Duo. Heero has been down before, and Trowa saved him then. I think Trowa might just know what he's talking about," Quatre reprimanded gently.
Suddenly, Duo heard a beep on the scanlink. "Guys, guys I got the radio!! I got somebody on the radio! It's gotta be him!" he yelled, grabbed the two-way.
"Heero, this is Duo. I repeat. Heero, this is Duo, do you copy?"
Static from the other end, then radio silence. He tried a couple more times in thirty second intervals.
Second try... third... fourth... Another burst of static. Someone was trying to contact him.
After about two more tries, Duo, feeling like he was about to cry, closed his eyes. He could imagine Heero, bleeding to death and holed up inside his wounded Gundam, trying to escape the snow. He spoke into the radio again.
"Please, buddy, if you're there... say something..."
And then, distant, almost lost in static but there just the same like a beacon of light, he heard Heero's flat, weak monotone: "02... copy... 01... repeat... 0... copy... 01... over?"
"Heero!!? Heero is that you? Over!" He opened a comlink with the other pilots. "I found 'em! I found 'em, guys!"
"... else... wou... be... baka?" / Who else would it be, baka? /
// He's alive! Thank God, he's still alive, he hasn't punched out yet! //
"Heero, are you hurt? Where are you?"
There was a heavy crackle of static; Duo was sure he'd lost Heero, lost his only hope of finding him with that static, but it cleared, and he heard:
"... ounds... severe... Say again?" / My wounds are severe. Say again? /
"Heero, it's Duo, can you hear me!?" he almost yelled into the headset.
"...on't yell... ka... hurts my...ead... hear you..." / Don't yell, baka. It hurts my head. I hear you already. /
"Where are you, Heero?! We're gonna come get you, over."
"... ow... hell... would... know... et... check... racking system... damage..." / How the hell would I know? Let me check my tracking system for damage. /
"... coordin... 45 west... 12 east... attlefield..." / My coordinates are 45 clicks west and 12 clicks east of the battlefield. /
"You okay, pal? We're all okay, just been looking for you for two hours. Over."
Another burst of static, and then Heero's voice. It sounded tired and faint. "... ot really... osing... a lot of... lood... an't... see straight..." / Not really. I'm losing a lot of blood, and I can't see straight. /
// Shit! //
"We're coming to get you right now, Heero. Just hang tight until we get there, alright?! Don't you go dying on me or anything. Over."
A sound over the two-way that could have been either static or laughter. "I... sure as... ell... not... oing... anyplace." / I'm sure as hell not going anyplace. /
"Give me thirty seconds of beeper so we can get a track, Heero. Over."
"... oger... beeper." Suddenly a bright green dot started blinking on Duo's ADF equipment.
"... uo... copy... eeper, over?"
"Yeah, we got it, Heero. Just hold on. We're coming to get you."
"... Roger... over and...ut..." / Roger, over and out. /
Duo flicked the comlink on again. "Guys, you get those coordinates?"
Quatre replied softly. "We did, Duo. We did."
Trowa. "Yes."
Wufei. "Of course Maxwell. What kind of incompetent soldier do you think I am?!?"
"Don't make me answer that," Duo shot back, starting in the direction of the blinking green dot that was his best friend.
// Just hang tough, buddy. We're coming to get you. //
TBC...
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