17-Aug-2004
revised: 09-Dec-2004

Title: Red Moon Rising (Part of the D&TP Arc) Part Eleven
Author: ebonydove
Archive: GW Addiction
Warnings: angst, sap, language, sci-fi
Pairings: 1+2/2+1
Spoilers: limited references to the series. Taken out of time line and terribly warped the story.
Author's Notes: sequel to the Death and the Phoenix story. Side fic is Northstar. Duo has lost all memory of his time with Heero and the others after a mysterious illness took him out of commission. In this story Duo returns to take back his life and continue the fight against Oz.
Special thanks to Red Roses. I need all the encouragement I can get!!
Disclaimers: I may toy with them, but I still don't own them.

Red Moon Rising by Ebonydove

Part Eleven

"Curse that black devil of a machine."

He scanned the entire quadrant again with no luck. Duo must have all the cloaking capabilities in Deathscythe engaged, along with the infrared scanners because for someone who would normally have little issue tracking Duo down he was having a damned difficult time of it right then.

The severe magnetic static he was currently encountering wasn't offering him any restbit and made trudging through the sector at his current slow crawl even more maddening for him. He growled out another curse as he made a pass over a small moon before adjusting his course to where the resource satellite should have been. Getting no positive readings and only static over the communication frequencies, he clicked on his IM knowing full well that Trowa and Quatre wouldn't get his message for a good four hours. He still needed to let someone know how he was progressing. So with a focused attempt to keep the frustration out of his voice, he began recording.

"Time is 08:15. I have been unsuccessful in locating targets. Am proceeding to original point of contact to begin another sweep of the area. It appears that the point of contact has... drifted. Will contact you at 09:00 with further update. 05 out."

He flipped off the record button and was just about to beam his message back to the others, when the unsettling thought that he wouldn't make it to Heero and Duo in time decided to kick him in his guilty conscious again. He should have said something to one or the both of them before now. Duo had always been a free spirit and even fool-hearty, especially when it came to Heero. He should have stepped in and locked the two in a damned room instead of racing after them on some damned secret mission of Heero's. After a moment of watching the static readings on the communications panel and then the dead scan readings from his control panel he flipped the record button back on with a snap and continued recording.

"On further review of area and due to... mechanical and technical inconsistencies found within the data obtained, I am changing my course to the most probable area target may have drifted to. Will resume communications after arriving to destination point. 05, out."

His sharp eyes scanned the blackness all around him, hoping for the slightest anomaly that could point him the direction that would lead him to his friends, but there was nothing to guide him in the vast blackness of space. Not even a hint in the spattering of the million, tiny stars before him. Closing his eyes and calling on all his ancestors' wisdom to guide him; he shut off all his sensors, scanners, charts, and carefully calculated destination probabilities, before pointing his Gundam in the least likely area he should have and hit the thrusters. He just couldn't ignore the nagging feeling he had, almost like the press of time ticking away and fighting him as he headed off in the direction of the least inhabited part of the region.

"Hold on you two... I'm on my way... just hold on."

If he weren't so worried for the jackass, he'd be completely pissed off. Heero was supposed to meet him on the far side of the main building of the resource satellites' many cargo holds and transport bays, but had landed Wing practically in the front doorway of the place instead. It loomed above the entrance like a silent sentinel staring out at the blackness that surrounded the abandoned facility. Duo set Deathscythe down nearby and powered down most of his systems, only leaving enough power for a quick start, before shimming into his suit and securing his tank and helmet.

He snapped the helmet tight and took a few shaky breaths as he popped the hatch; ready to descend and make the short trip to the building. His breathing was heavy in his ears and though he hated to admit it, sounded slightly labored as he ghosted weightless past Wing on his way to the entrance. It had been a long, hard road to recovery and despite the shadows in his memories, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the things he had forgotten about his past came to full light. It was both a comforting and disturbing thought.

He had just set his right foot down on the magnetic pad in front of the doorway when he felt the tremble. Panic swept over him as the first concussion wave soon followed from an obvious explosion; far deeper and more powerful than anything Heero would have planted in the facility. He wasn't that late and knew that Heero wouldn't have set of any of his own charges destroying the place without allowing him the opportunity to scavenge for any useful mecha parts or equipment like they had agreed on during their last conversation. But Duo also knew what it meant for Heero to veer away from his well- ingrained mission parameters, and he certainly hadn't given Heero any recent reason to trust him, which meant that something else had happened to cause the impromptu change of plans. He just couldn't bring himself to think that Heero would blatantly ignore his promise to wait for him reducing the place to ashes before he could get there.

He quickly pushed his way through the heavy metal doors, snapped a few glo-sticks in the dark corridor, and checked the atmospheric gages on the nearest wall panel. Despite signs of losing gravity in some sectors of the building, the readings all showed there was air. It was thin and in some parts of the building low, but present enough for breathing purposes. With a last tap of the gages on his suit, he unsnapped his helmet and lifted it carefully off his head. "Well, here's hoping that this shithole has air."

He took a few choking breaths of the stale, dusty, air and tried to get his bearings. It was as black as pitch inside the building and the sickly, green glow from his few sticks proved woefully inadequate given the size of the place. Even knowing that the main building still had its primary life support systems active and that he had air, he still found himself scrambling for more sticks and his breath. He coughed hard, trying to expel the gritty dust and felt along the walls until he found the start of the corridor that would lead to the cargo holds. According to Heero's original demolition plan, that was were the charges were supposed to be set to bring about the most damage. So it logically made sense to head in that direction first.

He snapped another stick and secured it to a loop on his suit, cursing when its dim green light barely lit up the two feet ahead of him. The sulfur stench in the air made him cringe as the continued rumblings all around him made his heart quicken. It seemed like it took him days to get from the main doors, down the first corridor to the hall that would lead him to the first set of cargo holds. He stood in the door frame of the first bay waiting for his body to register the gravity he was in and watching the specks of grit and dust swirl around him until he felt the magnetic pull of his heavy boots finally release. The fluctuating gravity spoke of serious systematic shutdowns in the building. He was just about ready to move down the corridor to the next part of the building after taking a few moments to balance himself in the sudden, heavy pull of the gravity, when a huge billowing plume of red dust came swirling down the short hallway and assaulted him.

It was as if all light and sound was instantly blocked out by the swirling mass of gritty, red dust. He found himself choking at the stench of it and his head buzzing from holding his breath for so long. Once the cloud finally blew all the way by him and he was able to wipe the dust from his face, he entered the cargo hold and scanned for any signs of life. It took fourteen seconds to get a negative reading from his gages that were obviously feeling the affects of the positive and negative fluctuations in gravity. Thankfully so far it hadn't been bad enough to lift him from the ground. He flicked on the communications link and frowned when it raised nothing but static. Wiping the dirt from around his mouth and taking a deep breath he bellowed out Heero's name hoping that it was be loud enough for the other to hear him. The hall shook violently in reply as another tremor grumbled underneath him and dropped pieces of debris from the ceiling.

"01 Location!... Report Damn it!... God-damn it, answer me!"

He continued to move towards the holds dodging chucks of wall and ceiling as the place threatened to come down around his ears. He heard nothing but the hiss of a burst pipe and he had to duck under the steaming spray to avoid getting both wet and scalded by it. His mind raced with all the improbable reasons as to why Heero wouldn't have responded to his frantic calling. He had been using everything he had; the communicator, had scanned for life signs, screamed his voice raw, and knew that Heero still had to be in the facility with Wing waiting outside. He would have had to come right past him and as dark and dangerous as it was, there was simply no way for him to miss Heero moving past him. He tried once more to bring his communicator back to life and cursed at the dull, scratchy sound of static.

"Heero... are you there? I can't find you in all this mess. Where are you?"

His breath started to become more rapid as he continued to make his way down the black hallway thinking that it seemed to stretch on forever instead of the forty feet it should have been. Images of the doorway at the other end of the hold being blocked kept flashing into his mind. He'd be force to back out, going back down the way he had just come to try to get to the cargo holds from some other angle. He briefly calculated the time it would take him to go back and try to get through using the ventilation or air conditioning systems, but was getting increasingly difficult to dodge the falling pieces of debris from the ceiling as it was. He couldn't afford to waste any more time by backtracking.

The air was so thick and smelled so bad that it was difficult for him to get enough in his lungs that were beginning to burn with the effort. He was just about to let out another shout for Heero when a chunk of wall near the ceiling broke away and hit him in the shoulder on its way down. Pushed by the force of the blow, he dropped to his knees grabbing at his shoulder with his free hand. He watched as the small green light of his last stick finally faded leaving him the dark.

"Damn to Hell, Heero. Where are you? I need you... please... I need to find you and make it right... "

The rumbling of the building shook the floor again and the air that swirled around him seemed almost bent on choking the life from him. His stubborn nature still intact forced him to edge his way back up the wall despite the throbbing and bruised shoulder to press on. Everything in his entire being was telling him to get moving, that time was ticking, but he refused to let the panic overwhelm him. Heero was at the end of the gods-forsaken corridor somewhere and he was hell bent in finding him. For if not for any other reason than to find out why Heero hadn't waited for him.

Muddy, detached thoughts of betraying his heart crept into his brain as he slowly made his way down the black corridor. The whole thing had been his idea. He sent Heero here in order to get them alone again and hopefully enough time to talk things out and instead he could have very well, though unintentionally, made things worse.

The guilt and worry clawed at him as he finally reached the end of the hall and found a door shut tight in front of him. He had to brace himself as another tremor shook under him. The automatic doorlock was jammed so it took him a few more moments than he had wanted to spend to rewire the panel beside it. It opened a third of the way, and the rest he was able to push hard against it with his shoulder to get it to open enough for him to squeeze himself through. He practically tumbled to the floor in the threshold, tripping over huge chunks of broken concrete and ceiling debris when the door finally gave all the way. He was at last in a long, wide, hanger bay and went quickly to the stacks of crates to look for Heero.

"Heero?!"

He darted around finding evidence of bits of stripped wires, the detonators gingerly placed at the bottom of the pallet of crates, and the fading green light of the glo-sticks around the area Heero had been working in. He flipped the face of the nearest charge and he saw that they had already been set with so little time remaining before they blew the place apart. He knew he was close to Heero, but thought to try to dismantle the trigger first when he noticed another other door standing wide open on the opposite side of the bay he was in. Without another thought he raced across the short space and charged through it more than prepared to deal with whatever was on the opposite side now that his adrenaline was up, his heart was racing, and that time to find Heero and get out in one piece was slipping further out of his grasp.

He practically flew through the opening and just as he passed the threshold, his instincts screamed at him to stop short. He struggled to keep a grip on anything that would prevent him from further forward motion and enviably falling through the huge hole in the floor before him. Shouting out flurry of curses, he steadied his footing and tried to see past the dark gloom of the space he was now in. He squinted sharp eyes to make out the devastation in a smaller storage room and concluded quickly that the floor giving way under the strain of ongoing explosions underground had obviously created the hole. There was just no way around it and was about to turn back to the task of disarming the triggers Heero had set in the hold when his eye caught the fading, but unmistakable, light of a green glo- stick at the bottom of the hole amidst the rubble.

His heart stopped short and began again at a frantic pace seeing Heero at the bottom of the broken pile of flooring and concrete below. He was lying on his back in an untidy sprawl, with his eyes tightly closed, and a piece of metal jutting through his thigh. Even in the low light he could tell it was bleeding profusely. Heero wasn't making any sound or movement and as he gazed down into the bleak darkness of that hole he thought for sure he was looking at the end of his own life.

"Oh shit, Heero... Heero?! All right... just hang on. I'm coming... "

After he set the charges further in the facility, Heero must have been racing back to get to the hall that would lead him outside when the damn floor gave way underneath him. The whole place was practically falling down around them and the plumes of thick, red dust had begun to erupt from every crack in crevasse it could seep through. The facility itself must have been built over the remains of the old mines underneath and when the unexplained explosions had begun it caused the collapse of the structures on the surface. Aware of the constant ticking of the time he franticly crawled towards the rim and peered down the side to the place where Heero lay below. "It's all right, man. Hold on. I'm coming down to get you."

His jaw set with determination, he scooted over the edge of the broken floor and hissed as the muscles in his bruised shoulder pulled and stretched to support his weight. Another tremor rocked the space around him, knocking loose pieces of flooring that tumbled past him and bounced precariously close to where Heero was. He held fast and waited for the shaking to lessen before moving again and lowering himself down to the closest chunk of debris he could get a foothold on. The last little bit was nothing but a quick drop. He tried to swing out enough to find a somewhat steady place to land it without breaking an ankle or worse himself. With a quick shove away from the lip of the hole and landed not too far away from where Heero lay and quickly scrambled over the rock and pieces of metal framing to him.

He went to the wound first and with a soft voice began talking, not sure if Heero was still with him or not at that point. "Ah shit, man. What did you do to yourself? I thought you were going to wait for me, huh? I mean, I thought we discussed this all ready. You were supposed to wait for me to get here before sending us to hell in a handbasket." He busied himself with taking a pulse, which he was relieved to find fairly steady, despite the obvious lost of blood and assessing the damage to Heero's leg and suit. He was about to see if he could ease the metal out of the wound when Heero opened his eyes slowly and frowned in his general direction.

"You're late." Heero said in a raspy, pain-filled voice.

"Well then. Better late then never, huh? Damn it man, you scared me. I really didn't think I was going to be able to find you in all this mess. I thought you were going to wait for me." Heero gave him a tight nod, letting his eyes slip close again.

He tried to keep the scolding tone from creeping up through his voice, shortcutting a true field dressing in the absence of time they had. He glanced around for anything that would help them and knew it would be near impossible to get Heero up without causing him further injury. Heero didn't have a helmet with him and his suit was torn badly from where the metal had impaled his leg that even if he got him out of the hole and down the corridor, he'd have no way to get him into Wing and off the satellite in time to beat the explosions. He scooted over to where Heero lay and tore away the fabric around the wound to get at it. A soft sound escaped Heero's parted lips and sent a sharp pang through Duo's chest.

"I'm sorry, Heero. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have never interfered with your original mission. I just needed to see you. I had so much I wanted to say and you just didn't seem willing to listen. But... it's gunna be okay. I'm gunna get you outta here. We're gunna get through this together, k?"

"N-no. My fault... set off hidden trigger... careless... " Heero wasn't showing any signs of movement and seemed as if he was slipping into unconsciousness as he mumbled out a soft apology.

"You're too much of a hardass to be careless. Knowing Oz they set this whole thing up." Duo was beginning to panic as he watched the red dust swirl around them and another tremor shook the building. More pieces of wall and ceiling rained down on them so he spread himself over Heero's body the best he could, letting the debris pelt him on his back, shoulders, legs, and head. When the worst of the tremor subsided, he spared a quick glance at Hero's face to see it scrunched up in pain.

"Get... out." Heero whispered softly through gritted teeth.

"No way man. It's gunna be okay. I'm not leaving you. Besides, I got you into this disaster and I'm damn well going to figure a way to get us out of here. Then you and me... we need to have a little talk... okay? `Cause, I need to tell you... " He gently brushed away the grime from Heero's face. "I've been so wrong about so many things and I want to tell you why I thought we couldn't... "

"Stop." Heero's pain-filled eyes opened and he frowned darkly at Duo. "Don't say anymore. You need... I need... you to ... get out."

"No way, partner. I already told you. I'm not goin' anywhere. And you're in no position to make me." He reached out and gave Heero's chest a gentle poke with his finger.

Duo found his hand caught in a firm grip as Heero suddenly tried to sit up. "Get. Out." His breath came out in a whoosh and he began to shake with the effort to hold himself in the almost-sitting position.

"Damn it Heero, you need to stay still." He pulled his hand away and quickly crawled behind him, easing Heero back against his chest before placing a hand over the bleeding wound and giving it some pressure. "I'm not leaving you like this. Nothing you can say can convince me to go, so just knock it off." He could feel the prickling of fear and fought to choke down the sudden rush of emotions. "Besides, we're in this thing together, right? We're gunna see this through to the end. But right now, I gotta hurt ya. This nasty little metal dagger's got to come out."

"Please... " Heero whispered. "I can't... "

Duo could feel his heart racing at the sudden thought of being with out the man in his arms. His head began pounding and with a sharp spike of pain made him shut eyes tight for a moment before he found the ability to continue his encouragement's for Heero.

"Yes you can, Heero. You can make it. You've always been the stronger of the two us, right? So now is not the time to go and ruin that for me. I'm gunna count to three okay? And then I'm going to pull this piece of metal out. It's gunna hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but it's gotta come out, k?" They both knew what he was saying was true. It had to come out and the only way to do it was fast.

"You ready? On the count of three... " Duo took a careful hold on the thickest part of it and paused to make sure Heero was still with him.

"Heero?"

He got a tight little nod as Heero shut his eyes tight and took a few shaky breaths.

"Okay... "

"One... "

"Two... "

"Three."

With one quick tug he yanked it from Heero's leg. Heero's whole body went taught and then relaxed all at once. He quickly applied pressure to the wound, once he tossed the jagged metal piece away and smoothed Heero's ruffled and sweaty hair from his face. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I got you. See? All done."

Heero lay very still in his arms and didn't respond so he gave him a little shove, relieved to hear a small groan from him. "Stay with me, Heero. I need you to stay awake, buddy."

Heero gave a little nod in response and opened his eyes enough for Duo to register the pain he was trying to hide.

"Good. I need you to stay awake. `Cause in about two seconds when I figure how to get us outta here, you're gunna have to help me. And that piece of metal won't be your excuse or trippin' ya up as we haul ass for the door." Duo chuckled darkly. "We won't be dancin' anytime soon, but when we get back to... "

"Duo. Stop." Heero barely managed to speak between his long, pain- filled breaths. "I'm not... going to make it. You need to get out... while you can. Detonation in... "

"Please, Heero. Don't say that... " Duo's voiced hitched, but quickly shook it off. "You can do anything you set your mind to. You've been through much worse than this... I mean, Christ... you... we... this is nothin'."

Heero placed his hand over Duo's where it lay on this thigh and pressed the silver compass that had just recently been returned to him into his palm. "Can't... lose you... again. You're my... heart's... home."

"It'll never happen. I won't ever leave you again. I... Promise." Duo's chest hitched with the effort to suppress the emotion that came flooding out from the gesture and closed his hand around Heero's. The pounding in his head got worse as a rush of memories flashed and raced through his mind. He slipped his hand from Heero's and pressed gingerly against the side of his head with his palm to relieve the pain there, but it only grew steadily worse with each breath he took.

"Duo?"

He could barely hear Heero's worried voice as another sudden stab of pain in his skull made his vision gray. Then without any warning, a rush of memories flooded his brain, his whole body shaking with the force of his past coming to light, leaving him stunned. It nearly took the remaining air from his lungs and he had to struggle not to let the gray in the corners of his vision overwhelm him. Memories screamed through him and with them came all the pain, loathing, fear, happiness, and finally the feeling of hope when Heero first admitted that he loved him. It seemed like so very long ago, and now despite that death was stalking very near to them, he had his wish. He was going to get his second chance with Heero, however brief.

"D-duo... wha... ts... "

Heero's trembling voice close to his ear brought him back into sharp focus. He had fallen backwards and Heero had somehow turned and now lay sprawled against him.

He took a few deep breaths, coughing out the grit from the ever- thickening dustiness in the air surrounding them and pushed himself back up. Wrapping an arm around Heero he pulled him close and whispered to him. "I'm alright. I just... oh god... "

Heero's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Duo, please. I-if you ... love me... at all, you'll get out... w-while you can."

It was the sheer look of desperation on Heero's face that made Duo move. His head still throbbed dully and his shoulder was stiff, but he knew from the look in Heero's eyes that their time was almost up. Despite knowing how close death was, in his heart, he couldn't help the feelings of sure joy that he had both his past and Heero back. And even though the future seemed bittersweet, they were together at last. "Everything's okay, Heero. I remember... I think I always knew, but I remember... everything. Heero, I remember how much I love you. I've always truly, completely, desperately, love you." He gathered Heero into his arms and kissed him softly, ignoring the shaking of the floor beneath them and the pieces of building falling down around them.

"Duo?! Heero?!"

Duo almost cried out when he heard Wufei's frantic shouting from above them. "Holy shit! Wu!, we're down here! This whole damn place is set to go! There's no time! Get the hell outta here!"

Wufei's determined face appeared over the edge of the broken floor above him. "Shut up Maxwell and get Heero ready to be pulled up. We have less than four minutes to get you two up and all three of us off this death trap."

"Wu, he's hurt bad. And his suit's been damaged. There just isn't enough time!" Duo hollered back up, still gripping Heero close.

"I have provisions. Just move it, Maxwell. This is not the most stable place for us to argue in."

Wufei disappeared as a bright green glo-stick dropped beside them and the end of a yellow nylon roped flew past Duo's head and landed beside it on the ground. Duo quickly wrapped his arms around Heero's chest, and with Heero on the brink of passing out moved them as close to the wall and under the rim of the hole as he could manage.

"Let's go!" Wufei bellowed from above and Duo raced to tie it up underneath around Heero's arms.

"D-duo... go... "

"Shut up Heero, love." Duo firmly steadied him as he struggled to stand up. "Wu! Heero's set! My helmet's in the entrance way of the very first door!"

"Please... go." Heero slurred as the hold he had on Duo's arms slipped.

"Come on love, you gotta reach up and help Wu haul your cute butt up there. You can do it, I know you can. Just hold on and try to keep from spinning."

"N-not b-before you're s-safe... " Heero barely managed to dredge up a growl.

"Don't be a prick. Just grab on to the damned rope, Heero. We're so outta time."

Heero tried to put on his most menacing glare, but mingled with the pain and desperation that Duo saw in his eyes did very little to sway him into trying to pull himself up first. "Please love. Reach. Do it for me, please... " Duo whispered against Heero's face. "I'll be right behind you. Promise... "

"Maxwell, damn-it! MOVE!"

Duo took Heero's face loving in his hands and pressed his lips softly to Heero's. "I'll meet you at the gundams." Duo ducked underneath Heero and hoisted him up on his shoulder.

Heero grabbed the rope and with one hand over the other began to slowly pull himself up towards Wufei.

"That's it love."

Wufei was straining hard to pull Heero up over the edge of the floor as more pops, cracks, and rumblings from the building coming apart continued all around them. The floor where Duo was standing began to rock with another hard explosion as another piece of the already broken floor above him let loose. Dodging out of the way, he watched as Wufei managed to get Heero over the lip of the hole and instantly reappear with his arms stretched as far as he could towards him.

"Come on Maxwell! Use the rope and your momentum to jump and scale up!"

"Get Heero to the gundams, first! Then come back for me!"

"Damn it to hell Maxwell, there's barely enough time for me to get us out at all. It's all of us at once or none of us at all! So stop arguing and get your ass up here!"

The ground under him was shaking terribly and all around the air was a thick red blanket of dust and smoke. He backed up as far as he could in the unstable footing and used all his strength to leap up and grab Wufei's wrist. His shoulder tore painfully and for a few moments he was sure he was going to drag Wufei over the edge and down into the hole with him and almost let go. But Wufei swung his other hand over and grabbed onto his wrist tightly. Wufei slowly pulled Duo up through the hole and despite being obviously winded, set about slinging Heero over his shoulder.

"There's no time to waste!"

The two began to race back through the cargo holds lit up by green glo-sticks like some kind of bizarre breadcrumb trail and dodging falling debris like passing through some kind of gauntlet until they reached the first doorway and then finally to the main corridor. It was nearly impossible to breathe with the fumes and dust and Duo tripped twice on chunks of ceiling he hadn't seen until too late and that had put him slightly behind.

"Come on, Maxwell! Move it!"

"Keep going! I'm right behind you!"

When the got to the last door, Duo scrambled for the helmet he had left. Pulling it out from underneath some broken tile, he snapped it onto Heero's suit. Wufei's side and leg was dripping with Heero's blood. They set him on the ground, noting that he had passed out somewhere between the hole that they had come up through and the main hall. Wufei dug into is pocket and quickly wrapped sealing tape around Hero's thigh and prayed it would hold for the short trip to the Gundams.

"Maxwell, there's little time, but I can bring a hel... " Wufei started, but Duo cut him off with a slightly off kilter attempt of laughter.

"No time, man. I have a very big mouth and even bigger lungs to support all that talking I do, so I intend on... "

"What precisely? Levitation? Alchemy? Holding your damn breath all the way to Deathscythe?"

All Wufei got in response was a sly grin and a steeled look of determination in Duo's eyes.

"Do you fear anything at all in this universe, Duo Maxwell?" Wufei asked quietly ignoring the swirling dust and the constant rain of debris as they prepared to make a run for the gundams.

"Only living without him." Duo shrugged and prepared himself to follow Wufei and Heero out. "Hold onto him tight. I'll be right behind you guys."

"I'll take him. No time to argue." Wufei gathered Heero up and with Duo's help got him settled over his shoulder once again. Right before he went to unseal the door that would take them outside the facility he turned and dug into a pocket in his suit and handed the end of a small ripcord to Duo. It was only about four feet in length but would alert him if Duo fell or worse, ran out of breath halfway there.

Duo gripped it tightly and gave Wufei one last brief smile. "The journey of a lifetime starts with just one step, Wu-man."

Wufei gave him a sharp nod and opened the door. The atmosphere had grown brutally unstable and they had to fight swirling cones of red- filled, dusty air as they battled their way the short distance to the Gundams. They had less than one minute to get off the surface before Heero's charges went off. They both knew there just wasn't enough time left to do much of anything but try to lift off the surface and hope the thrusters would give them enough push to put some space between them and the disintegrating surface.

Once at the bottom of the gundams, Duo barely had enough time to scramble to Deathscythe before Wufei grabbed the repel line and he and Heero disappeared up into Shenlong. He was out of breath and once secured in his own machine panted heavily and fought of the slightly dizzy feelings he had from the lack of air. He was still frantically powering up and preparing for launch when he saw Shenlong grappled Wing and lift off.

A deafening explosion rocked the building near him and a huge wave of thick could of dust shot up and filled the sky around him in red. Lifting off and jetting away from the resource satellite close behind Wufei, he turned and saw as it began to break apart and come alive with flame. He felt the wave from the huge explosion caused by Heero's explosives pushed against Deathscythe's hull and moved him further away from the surface. Confirming that Wufei and Heero had cleared and were spacebound as well he gave one last look to the resource satellite behind them, as the whole area was engulfed in a rusty haze, blocking out the stars, and the bathing the nearby moon in a shade of blood red.

End Part 11

(:./ebony/red11)