24-Apr-2001
Now all the people who have been threatening to do nasty things to my muse unless I got this next part out can put down the sharp, pointy objects. ^^;; (I may not like her much, but she's the only muse I've got!)
Title: Need Some Distraction
Author: Dan
Archive: Tyr-sama's GWA
Timeline: After EW (but I tend to ignore details ^^;;;)
Pairings: 2+1+H, 5+R
Warnings: sap. sap. sap. sap. sap. I'm sorry ;_; It
just had to be done. shonen ai! ^.^
Disclaimer: Not mine! I'm just borrowing them. ^.^v
The reporters dispersed, a few lingering in hopes of nabbing some tidbit more that would land them the front page. The Red Cross showed up with coffee for the rescuers, and medical attention for anyone who needed it. I worked with them handing out coffee and wrapping people in blankets. It was hot, grueling, but it kept my mind off the fact that Hilde was buried forty floors down.
"Relena." I blinked at Heero's quiet call, and then gasped, but it ended in a sigh. He was carrying Duo in his arms like you would a sick child, or a hurt lover. With Duo cradled high against Heero's chest, with all that beautiful auburn hair falling like a waterfall, the pair looked like a picture out of a romance novel. Except that Duo's face was pale and drawn, his hands seeping blood through the torn bandages, and his knees ripped open. I opened my arms and delicately wrapped a blanket around him as Heero lowered him gently to the ground.
"How long has it been?"
"Too long."
I touched Heero's cheek, and when he turned to look at me his eyes were beautiful in the depth of emotion that they held. "They'll find her."
He dropped his forehead against my palms, and we sat there with Duo cradled between us. Duo's moan was so low that I wasn't sure I would have heard it if it hadn't been for Heero's immediate reaction. He shifted Duo's weight into his lap so his face, not the crumpled mass of the bombed building, was the first thing that Duo saw. I watched as Duo opened his eyes, adjusted to the situation, and decided what to do; it took less than a minute. There was no slow fluttering of those unfairly long lashes, no questioning look around; his eyes just snapped open like he'd shaken himself out of a disturbing dream.
He sat up, and grimaced when he tried to run one hand through his hair, which was tangled and covered with that fine white powder from the demolished concrete. When Duo looked at me his eyes were tired and a little ashamed. It was a look that he'd given me more than once during the war. "Relena, I-"
I put two fingers to his mouth. "Duo, be quiet."
"You're the only one he ever shuts up for." Heero sounded mildly aggrieved.
I blinked at Duo, and he just grinned sheepishly and shrugged. He grimaced when the movement jarred his shoulder. He looked down at his hands and then over at the rubble that was being excavated as quickly as was safely possible. The look on his face was frightening in its intensity. I gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine; you have to believe that."
"I know. Hel will be just fine," Duo said quietly, and then grinned up at me. "You can't kill a Valkyrie, can you?"
"No, you can't." Heero held Duo tightly about the waist, burying his face in Duo's vibrant hair. I wished Hilde could see them this way, to know how much they both loved her. Part of the problem was her pride; the other part was something very close to insecurity. I wondered if she knew just where she fit into their world, and what a central part of it she was.
"I haven't been handling this very well, have I?" Duo asked me. I remembered my blind, pounding fear when I thought Wufei might have been killed, that I might have lost him forever before I'd even gotten a chance, and I thought I might be able to understand what Duo was feeling. I squeezed his hand; there just weren't words for it.
"They think they might have found the central support structure," Wufei stated quietly. Sometimes I think he doesn't walk; he just beams from place to place like Captain Kirk. I was the only one who jumped, but Wufei's voice had been making me jumpy lately. He watched Duo with fathomless eyes. "They think they might be close to where Hilde is. Please don't do anything rash, Maxwell. Dammit."
I could have told him his last plea, and it was a plea as much as he might have liked to deny it, would be in vain. Duo was already sprinting towards the site, with Heero not far after him. I had always thought that Heero was the faster of the two. Wufei sighed in frustration. I smiled up at him from my kneeling spot on the ground. "They love her."
"Aa." We looked at each other in what might have been a revealing moment if it hadn't been for Duo's shout of discovery.
People converged on the spot almost instantaneously. Wufei and I were forced to push and shoulder our way through the crowd of excited EMTs, firefighters, police officers, and other assorted personnel. When I took the third elbow in the side, I'd had enough.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" I know I'm just a civilian, and I know that I had absolutely no reason to be there, but sometimes there are perks to being a World Leader. People scrambled to get out of my way so I could make the appropriately dignified approach.
What I saw made my heart do a small spin and then settle into a nice puddle of sappy goo. Duo cuddled Hilde against his chest, face buried in her short hair, just rocking very slowly. Heero, the ever-practical one, was trying to pry his lover's hands away so he could check Hilde for damage. Hilde was either too tired, or too overwhelmed, to make much more than a few token complaints about being manhandled. But when an EMT sidled up to the trio, she treated the poor girl to a glare that promised a slow and painful death if they were interrupted.
"Duo," Heero finally growled in exasperation. "We need to see if she's been hurt."
To my utter amazement, Heero's befuddled horror, and Duo's distress, Hilde began to cry. She hid her face against Duo's chest and sobbed. Duo held her closer, while Heero made anxious squeaky sounds. I don't think Heero could have been any more surprised if she had reached out and slapped him.
When Hilde finally turned back to the two men who were desperately trying to comfort her, I could tell that she was laughing. Despite the blood that had dried in a sharp line down the side of her face, the bruises that darkened one side, and her obvious pain, I had never seen her quite so happy. Heero looked as if someone had dropped him the middle of a play and he had no idea what his lines were. She reached out and cupped his face.
"I'm happy," She laughed at his dumbfounded look. "I know, I know. But I'm happy. I missed you two so much." Her voice broke and Duo held her tighter. "So much."
"I hate to break up the happy reunion, children." Sally's voice cut through considerate silence and shook us all back into reality. She stood with one hand on her hip, watching the trio like an indulgent older sister. "But we do have one more victim down there, and Hilde does need medical attention. Now."
Warmth and amusement tempered the obvious command in her voice. Hilde squeaked when Duo simply stood, still cradling her in his arms, with one smooth movement. The rescuers made an aisle for the threesome, and the EMTs had enough sense of self-preservation not to crowd them as they made their way to the ambulance.
I watched with a happy little glow in my stomach as Duo stalked towards the ambulance. Only when Duo was feeling intense emotion did he ever shut up. Besides that one inarticulate cry of discovery, he had not spoken since they had found her. He stood in front of the ambulance, with Hilde cradled against his chest like she was a child, for a long time. Heero placed a hand on his shoulder, and Duo shuddered once.
When Duo did speak he didn't look at her, but his tone held more emotions than I had thought possible; "You little fool."
"I thought you'd say something like that." I couldn't see her face, but I know she was smiling that smile that women sometimes get when the men they love are doing something typically male.
"Don't you ever leave me alone again." Duo's voice shook for a moment. "Don't leave me."
"Never." Hilde grasped Heero's hand and he threaded his fingers through hers, and then rested his head against Duo's. "We'll figure this out. Even if it kills us."
Wufei snorted, not unkindly. "More likely they'll end up killing each other before the week is out."
I stomped on his foot and dabbed at my eyes. So I'm a closet romantic; so sue me.
End of Part 11
(:./dan/distraction11)
