A Place in the Darkness

By Oyuki

Chapter Five

“No! Oh God, please...” Duo begged as he held the limp Hilde in his arms. He didn’t hear the rush of feet on the wooden floor nor did he hear the words that told him to move away so they could treat the patient. He didn’t register anything until strong arms pulled him away from Hilde and up to his feet. He was shaking. He saw the paramedics work on Hilde.

“Her heart’s still beating, weakly though,” one said.

“Give her mouth to mouth,” said another.

The first paramedic complied. He closed up her nostrils with one hand and used the other to hold up her chin. He took a deep breath and put his open mouth on Hilde’s. Once, twice, three times and nothing happened.

“We’re losing her,” said the second paramedic. His partner tried once again and, miraculously, Hilde coughed a little, but she didn’t wake up.

“We got her breathing, put her in the stretcher and get the oxygen ready, it seems the bullet went through to her lung. The one in the shoulder may have hit a major blood vessel, and the third may have punctured a kidney. She’ll need a blood transfusion.”

All this information was said in front of Duo while they got Hilde ready to go to the hospital.

Duo was still crying. Somebody was hugging him, he didn’t know who but somebody had his or her arms around him.

“Sally?” he called.

She walked up to him nervously and asked, “Yes?”

“Go with her please.” There was a slight pause before he added, “I trust you.”

She nodded and said, “I’ll go in the ambulance, you follow in one of the cars.” Duo only nodded.

Sally informed the paramedics that she was Hilde’s doctor and that she would be accompanying them to the hospital. Then they were on their way.

It only took twenty minutes for them to reach the nearest hospital, but in that short amount of time Hilde had flat-lined twice; not a good sign.

They reached the hospital and they immediately set about getting her blood tested. They needed to know the blood type for the transfusion.

“AB negative, hard to come by,” said Sally to the other doctors. They needed the blood before they could start the surgery on Hilde. Sally went outside hoping the others had arrived. To her relief they had and she told them the news.

“AB negative is hard to come by, do any of you...?” her question went unfinished as Heero interrupted her to say, “Yes. I’ll donate... as much as it takes.”

“Thanks, but you can only donate so much. Any of you...?” they all shook their heads. She sighed heavily and led Heero to where Hilde waited.

Duo put his head in his hands. He’d failed her, for the third time he’d failed her. He hoped the old saying wasn’t true. He hoped the third time wasn’t a charm. First she almost gets killed because of her desire to help him get information, then he and his friends get her sent to jail... and this time? This time he couldn’t even help her because he didn’t have the same blood type. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Relena’s gentle countenance.

“She’ll be okay. Just pray, Duo. You’ve always had faith, don’t lose it now.” She embraced him. She wished she wasn’t crying. She wished that she could give him strength by not crying in front of him.

Six hours later, Duo, Heero, who had come back about five hours before, Relena, Catherine, Trowa, WuFei, and Quatre waited for Sally to bring them news of Hilde. They all stood up as she came out of the OR.

She looked tired. Duo walked to her, but didn’t say anything, he just looked down at her with hopeful eyes. Sally shook her head and said monotonously, “It’s up to her now. The bullet penetrated her lung beyond repair, it had to be removed. She was given a blood transfusion for the blood loss and, thankfully, the third bullet didn’t touch her kidneys, but she’s fallen into a coma. She’s on life support. It’s up to her, on her will to live.”

“Can I see her?” asked Duo.

“Just for a minute, and only you.”

Duo nodded and let himself be led to the intensive care unit, to her room. He never thought he’d live to see her like that again. Once in a lifetime was enough. She had tubes in everywhere. He saw the large tube in her mouth that kept her breathing She was a pale, a bright yellow color. The only sounds in the room were the beeps of the various monitors and the respirator keeping her alive. He reached for her hand. She seemed so fragile, like a porcelain doll.

Sally slipped out of the room to give them some privacy. She sincerely hoped Hilde wanted to live. That was the only way she would come out of this.

Inside the room Duo talked quietly to Hilde and held her hand in both of his.

“Baby, I love you so, so much. Please don’t leave me! You can’t leave me alone. I swear I will never, ever, doubt you if you just wake up. You’ll never have to see me again if you don’t want to, but please don’t di-- don’t go.” He couldn’t say the word. He couldn’t because if he did, she might hear. She might not want to come back, then it would be all too real. He continued to cry. Seeing her like this, with the possibility that she might die, ripped him apart. It tore him up inside. He’d thought he’d lost her forever once, and it had hurt, but thinking of her dying made that pain seen ten thousand times greater. It was even worse than the once he’d experienced on Peacemillion. Back then, he hadn’t really known how much he really love her.

Duo bent his head and prayed. He hadn’t prayed in years, but his faith took over. “Dear God, please don’t take her. I know we mortals only turn to You when we want something, but I’ve never asked You for anything. If You do this for me, I promise I will not ask for anything more. I know You can’t be bribed, but please; this is coming from my heart... please. You know better than anyone how much I’ve suffered for her, how much I love her.”

Sally came back into the room and reminded him that he’d only been allowed to be in the room for a few minutes. He kissed Hilde’s hand and stood up from his kneeling position. “Sorry for asking you to leave, but the others want to see her too,” she said.

“It’s okay.”

“Let’s get you a cup of tea to calm your nerves, okay? We don’t want you to break down.” Duo only wiped his eyes and nodded.

Neither of them saw Heero enter Hilde’s room.

Heero approached the small figure on the bed. She looked... fragile. It was the only word he could think of. He walked closer and wondered if she would hear him talk. He decided that she could since he wasn’t religious and couldn’t speak to God.

He struggled for the right words, but who knew what to say to a comatose person? He decided to just be simple and just say what came into his head first. He awkwardly started by saying, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m gonna tell you this anyway. Don’t die. He, Duo, needs you. You didn’t see him when you... ‘left’ but he was wreck. He didn’t eat, he didn’t sleep, he drank every minute of the day. He... he was messed up for a long time. He blamed himself for what we believed you did. But I knew he loved you. You know why? Because he never approached a woman. Never. Your memory kept him from other women. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, it was that he loved you so much that he couldn’t be with anyone else. So, if you can hear me, then don’t die. Duo needs you. And I... I need to... to apologize. I need you to open your eyes and tell you that I’m sorry for believing the very worse of you. I-- I love Relena, but that doesn’t excuse my behavior. When you first came back, I wanted you to just simply disappear. For you to-- I don’t know! I just wanted to forget about the way I treated you, but I couldn’t. And if you wake up, then I will tell you what I’ve just told you to your face.”

With that, the ‘perfect soldier’ left the room He never noticed the movement of Hilde’s fingers against the sheets of her bed.

“Where did you go off to?” asked Heero when she saw him return to the waiting area.

“I went to the bathroom,” he said evenly.

“Liar,” she said affectionately. He didn’t respond to that.

They all sat in the waiting area for almost twenty four hours. Trowa, Qatre, Catherine and WuFei had gone home at the insistence of the others. There was no sense in all of them getting exhausted. Heero was about to ask Relena if she wanted to go home when an exhausted looking Sally came towards them. Her face didn’t give away anything.

“Sall--”

“She woke up,” she interrupted. “The worst part is over. She’s stable, but she will be in intensive care for a while... she’ll live.”

Duo hugged her. “Thank you, thank you!”

“No need to thank me, it was all her,” she said laughing as Duo picked her up and spun her around. “Duo, put me down! She wants to see you!”

Duo put her down quickly and ran down the halls. He reached her room in record time.

She was laying in the bed, but most of the tubes had been removed. The only things she still had were the wires and things that kept the monitors hooked up to her. He walked closer and saw her face. She gave him a tired smile, which he returned.

She licked her dry lips and softly said, “Hi.” Her voice was very soft and weak.

“Hi. How ya feelin’?”

“Tired. All the medications...”

“I know. But you’re going to live. That’s what’s important.”

There was a long pause before she said, “I heard you asking God to let me live.”

“He listened,” he said. His eyes began to tear again. He was so happy and not at all ashamed to have her see him cry. After all, it was her doing. He was happy.

“I love you, Duo,” Hilde said her own eyes filling up with tears.

“I love you too. Hilde, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I hurt you so badly. I--” he was crying now.

“Shh... It’s okay. Duo, God has given me-- us-- another chance. Let’s not screw it up by bringing up the past. Let’s leave it where it belongs and move on. We won’t start over, but we will pick our lives up from here.”

She held her arms out to him. She welcomed him. She loved him, and they would be happy this time. “I won’t let anything come between us again,” he promised.

“I know...”

The End

AN: So, how did you guys like it? C'mon! I couldn't just let her die! They deserved happiness!