I do not own the “Gundam
Wing” characters, nor did I make any money off of this project, so please no
suing. Various pairings, yaoi, AU.
The Completion Of Death
Blissful Lies of Love
To Forever We Go
“You can’t mean that!”
Behind him, the angel heard the
scythe rattle against the raven colored stones, but dismissed it as he held
gazes with the demon. His body was stiff, his face never changing, as he
regarded his once companion, his eyes never betraying himself. “I was entrusted
with a mission and I cannot abandon that faith.”
Tears threatened to spew forth, but
Duo fought them with all his strength. “But what about us? This was our chance,
damnit!”
Heero’s gaze shifted, drifting
slowly to the window and the freedom it offered. His dark stained hair fell
into his face, tickling his cheeks. “Our chance was gone ten centuries ago,
Duo.”
“NO!” His head shook violently, eyes
squeezed shut in defiance. The scythe flew from its resting place on the floor
and to the demon, stopping and hovering before him. That mesmerizing hum began
once more as the blade pulsed with emerald power. “You told me that we’d always
be together! What happened to that?”
“Things have changed,” was the stoic
reply. “We have changed.”
The dragon-like wings flapped again,
this time extinguishing half of the candles. “I haven’t changed, Heero! We can
make this work! Don’t you see? The end of the world will only happen if we make
love! We don’t have to do that!”
“Love is a human distraction,” the
angel replied. “With love comes passion, another human distraction, another
weakness. We can never reclaim what we had.”
“Yes we can!” Duo yelled, taking a step forward. His face
was contorted in agonizing pain, snarl riding on his lips. “I loved you then,
and I love you now!”
“That me you loved is gone, never to
be resurrected,” he replied. “Accept what fate has handed you.”
Long fingers wrapped around the onyx
of Deathscythe’s handle, drawing closer to Duo’s half-naked chest. Black shreds
of a silk tunic hung off him like bandages, while his hair came undone from his
plait. It spread out, splaying like fingers behind him as his wings fanned
themselves. A small sneer spread itself onto his mouth, allowing a single fang
to barely make itself known over his bottom lip. His amethyst eyes blazed with
an unrecognizable fury, and there was something elusive behind that rage, a
sense of finality perhaps?
He turned his back to the angel and
the kneeling humans, facing the window. The blackness of night was fading as it
turned a lighter shade of indigo, the still invisible sun beginning its crawl
to the heavens. “I accept fate,” he whispered. “I accept that there is no more
Heero, the little angel that lived on the other side with me, cheery and in
love. I accept that he is g-g-gone.”
Duo’s breath shuddered, his
shoulders shaking slightly as he continued. “But if that person I love is gone,
then there is no more me either.” He took a step out onto the ledge of the
window, his head slightly falling back as the wind splashed against his face,
smelling bitterly of salt from the ocean below. “I die when you do, Heero, so
if you are already gone, then I’m just a walking shell begging to be put out of
my misery.” He cast a longing glance over his shoulder, half of his face hidden
behind a leathery wing. A small bittersweet smile crossed his lips, while his
eyes were forlorn and pleading for some sort of response.
Heero watched on, unphased. His lips
were set in a straight line, his hard eyes unblinking.
Duo bowed his head, nodding. “As I
thought. Thank you for your help, Trowa, Wufei. I appreciate it more than
you’ll ever understand. Trowa, keep Quatre close to you; he loves you more than
you will ever know. And Wufei, smile; for once, just smile and relax. I’ll
always be your guardian demon.” He spared once last look at Heero, and saying
nothing, took flight out the window, disappearing upward into the dark heavens.
Wufei whirled towards the stoic
angel, teeth bared like a wild animal. “Are you just going to stand there? He
is going to kill himself!”
“That is the point,” Heero murmured,
walking towards the window.
“What?!” the general screamed, fury
devouring him. “He loved you and this is what you’re going to do to him? How
can you stand by and allow this? Don’t you care at all?”
Heero cast him a confident glance,
the smallest smile playing upon his lips. Wufei raised an eyebrow, confused.
The angel ignored him, turning back to the window, his eyes slipping shut as
the wind caressed his face with cool ethereal fingers.
“Heero,” Trowa whispered.
“I know what I am doing,” he
responded softly. “I know what I am doing.”
This
wasn’t how it was supposed to go! Tears ran in brutal waterfalls down his cheeks, the wind tearing them
from his face. He climbed higher into the heavens, his black wings working with
graceful ease as he strove for space. He was
supposed to accept his soul and love me back! We could have spent our days
doing nothing but being with each other and I would have been happy! Why
couldn’t he have been, too?
I failed. These last ten thousand years has been for
nothing. The searching, the battling, the frigid nights, all for nothing,
damnit! And Quatre…the poor boy will lose his mind, and Trowa…he will blame
himself, and Wufei…will feel more helpless than ever before. I drug them into
his hell! I awakened the soul within Quatre; I forced that part in him to come
forward. What have I done?
Heero…
Your eyes are so cold, Heero.
Can’t you smile for me once more?
Just once?
Heero…
“You are despicable,” Wufei growled,
unsheathing his sword. “You have no honor.”
Heero refused to acknowledge the
general, his eyes still closed in the wind-induced elation. “You have no idea
of what you speak.”
Wufei opened his mouth to yell once
more, but quickly shut it as the words died in his throat. Stunned and
confused, he watched, captivated, as the skin along Heero’s shoulderblades
split, parting in two perfect gashes. No blood poured forth, although something
else crimson began to push forward, stretching and forcing itself to be born.
It seemed to last an eternity, the scarlet lumps spewing out, until at last
they were exposed in all their tainted glory.
Two immense maroon wings unfolded
themselves, spanning six feet in either direction. Each feather was a deep red,
a burning sunset forgotten with time. They waved once, and then collapsed
against his back.
He threw the startled general a
smirk, a cocky arrogance riding plainly in his eyes as he took a step onto the
window ledge. He took a deep breath, tasting the salt on his hungry tongue.
Smiling, he jumped, falling out of sight for a moment, and then flew upward,
his wings flapping in waves of scarlet against the paling darkness.
“Mmm…Duo…”
Wufei whirled around, falling down
to one knee beside Trowa and before his king. Quatre stirred, moving around
restlessly, as his brow wrinkled. Words, mostly incoherent syllables, poured
from his lips. Gently, Trowa stroked his lover’s face, running his fingers
through the golden hair.
Ocean eyes fluttered open, blinking
several times before finally remaining so. A soft smile grew on his full lips
as he stared up into the face of his beloved Knight.
“It’s over,” he whispered.
“Quatre,” Trowa hissed, tasting his
name like fine wine. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
“I feel so whole, Trowa,” the king
muttered, eyes soft with peace. “I thought I would feel empty with it gone, but
instead, I feel perfect and complete.”
“Gone?” Wufei interrupted. “What’s
gone?”
Quatre cast him a curious, and
rather foolish look. “Heero’s soul, of course. He accepted it.”
Wufei ran to the window, snarl on
his lips as he screamed obscenities to the heavens. Trowa gathered the boy in
his arms, slowly bringing him to his feet as they made their way to the window,
eyes squinted in the indigo depths. The Knight quickly explained what had
happened and Quatre searched the heavens, horrified.
“Duo…” Wufei whispered. His hands
clenched at his sides as he cursed his lack of wings. “Duo…”
The demon flew towards the stars,
never slowing down even as the air grew thin and his head felt cloudy. It
didn’t matter now. Nothing did.
His wings flapped, driving him
higher, when suddenly he felt an iron grip around his ankle, stopping his
flight and pulling him down. He tightened his grip on Deathscythe, prepared to
sweep it around and kill, if the situation insisted. Curses on his lips, he
spun around, eyes narrowed, facing the angel, when all words ceased on his numb
lips.
He knew it had to be Heero; that was
not even questioned. However, the wings were what caught his attention and held
it, driving all other thoughts from his shocked mind.
Red. Actually, to be more precise, a
deep maroon as if they had been covered in-
“Blood,” Duo whispered, holding
Heero’s hard eyes. “Your wings…”
“It is the blood of the world,” the
angel replied. “I have everyone’s blood on my back.”
“You did accept it!” Duo screamed. Anger and
joy waged war inside his heart as he sat confused as to what to feel. He chose
the latter, wrapping his arms around his companion’s neck and squeezing
happily, laughing. He let go of the scythe and it hung obediently in the air,
hovering with unseen power. “You lying bastard, you did!”
Heero gently broke away from the embrace,
his fingers drifting up and wiping away the cheery tears that ran in torrents
down the demon’s cheeks. “I had to make sure you were willing to do anything
for us.”
Duo sniffled, the grin that was
plastered to his lips never fading. His dream was finally coming true! After
endless years of hell, he was finally getting everything he had ever wished
for, everything that was robbed from him. “I am willing to do anything to be
with you, Heero, even kill God himself!”
Heero dropped his hands to Duo’s shoulders,
a light yet serious reassurance. “How about killing yourself?”
Panting, Relena climbed the last of
the never-ending steps the Tower possessed, wearily stumbling into the room.
Shadows lapped at everything, devouring half of the space with their dark,
hidden tendrils. An altar of black marble stood, important, in the center,
while candles, only a fraction of them lit, ran along the outer ring,
interspersed with several statues of exquisite angels and demons. Her eyes fell
onto one window where three young men stood, staring, transfixed, at the sky.
She knew them; as a princess she had to know almost everyone, especially people
as significant as Quatre Raberba Winner.
The king’s eyes flickered over to
where the princess stood, dark blonde hair matted to her forehead in sweaty
clumps. “Miss Relena?” he breathed, astonished.
“I-I am looking for Master Yuy,” she
wheezed. “Heero.”
Trowa walked over to her, handing
her a waterskin. She drank greedily from it, and upon finishing it, handed it
back to the Knight with a note of appreciation. She raised a fine eyebrow upon
receiving all the serious looks from the boys. “What is it? Where is he? I
heard he was here.”
“He was,” Wufei snorted. “But now,
he’s out there.” He shoved a finger towards the window, out into the
brightening darkness, sneer riding his lips.
Relena dashed to the portal, eyes
wide. She swore she could see something scarlet in the surrounding indigo,
moving with a grace that was inhuman. Panic rose in her pale blue eyes as she
turned towards the others. “What’s he doing?”
“I think I know,” Quatre whispered,
voice somber and soft. “I felt him as he was accepting his soul. Peace be with
you, Heero and Duo.”
“Killing myself?” Duo asked,
stunned. His hair blew about his face in chestnut tentacles, wrapping around
his throat, his arms, his wings. “What are you talking about?”
“We can’t go on like this, Duo,”
Heero answered. “And I don’t want to risk the world. People will be out for our
blood once they hear of this. I don’t want to spend another ten thousand years
fighting.”
The demon nodded, wings flapping. “I
understand.”
Heero drifted closer to the object
of his affection, his arms sliding around his waist. “We can be together in
death. No one can deny us that. We can shed our titles and become just a couple
spirits lost in the throes of eternity.”
“Why didn’t you think of this
before?” Duo asked.
“By taking my soul, He forbid me
that route,” the angel muttered, eyes falling to the hazy ocean hundreds of
feet below. “If I would have died, that would have only been my body, my shell,
perishing. My soul would have continued to be reborn for the rest of time, lost
and asleep forever. But now-”
“We win,” Duo murmured, taking in
the musky scent that wafted off the angel. He felt the hot breath against his
neck, the lips so agonizingly close to his tender, sensitive flesh. “We win,
Heero. Let’s go.”
“Understood,” the angel whispered,
devouring Duo’s lips in one final kiss. He felt the heat inside the demon’s
mouth, ate at it with a fury as his tongue wrestled with another. His fingers
snaked through the long tendrils of Duo’s hair, loving the feel of the delicate
silk. Without knowing it, he moaned deep in the back of his throat.
They broke apart, and smiling at one
another still in a tight embrace, brought both their wings in, ceasing their
working motion. Instantly, they began to fall, head first, towards the
unforgiving ocean.
Their eyes never left each other,
their hands groping for some sort of reassurance that this was the right
action. Duo was crying, the tears being torn from his face by the rushing wind.
“The completion of the legend,” he
whispered. “The Completion of Death and Life as they are finally joined
together. I love you, Heero.”
The angel smiled, eyes soft for the
first time in a blur of centuries. “Freedom is ours.”
“Heero, NO!”
“DUO!”
Relena’s shrill cry was lost under
Wufei’s scream of the demon’s name. Both people hung out the window, perilously
close to tumbling out as their hands reached for the air. The anguish was
carved deep into their faces, down into the core of their eyes. Relena ignored
the tears that trickled down her pale cheeks, their presence as useless as her
screams. Wufei could only watch, mouth agape, chest clenched in some
unforgiving cold grasp.
How
can this be happening? he
thought, watching in horror as the couple descended at impossible rates. Duo…He was smiling just a little while ago! He was right
beside me! He was my friend! Not someone that I looked up to, not someone who
hurt me, just someone who loved life, loved people. He wasn’t what I thought he
was! He wasn’t that monster that everyone perceived him to be! Damnit! Now he’s
falling to his death! Why couldn’t I tell him I respected him? Why couldn’t I
tell him that I lo-
Heero,
the princess’ mind whispered. I traveled all
this way to watch you die in the arms of the demon! I could see the strength in
your eyes when we met! How could you fall to him? How could he defeat you? How?
“Heero!” she screamed, thrashing her
head. “Fight him! Kill him! Don’t allow him to defeat you!”
Quatre, who held Trowa’s hand in a
tight grip, turned towards the girl, surprised. “You don’t know?”
“Know?” she whispered, not tearing
her eyes from the scene outside.
“Heero isn’t battling with Duo,” he
explained softly. “They are finally going where they can be together without
the persecution of everyone. They are killing themselves to save everyone here
and finally be at each other’s side forever.”
“Did you know they were going to do
this?” whispered Wufei, his lips numb.
Quatre nodded, face solemn. “I felt
it in Heero’s heart while his soul was awake within me. He knew this was his
only escape, their only chance.”
“But-” Relena hissed, the tears
never slowing. The darkness outside was almost gone, the sun just barely
hidden. “But-”
The king turned his soft gaze
outside, leaning his back against his lover. “I feel the sadness, too, Miss
Relena; don’t get me wrong, please. However, I know they are going to a place
where they can be happy, and in the end, isn’t that what’s best for everyone?
If you love him, then wish him luck and fulfillment, fulfillment that he
couldn’t find here.”
Relena could say nothing; her tongue
had finally been stilled while her mind turned numb. Everything seemed to slow
down; time itself had fallen to a crawl as the embraced couple and scythe
finally struck the ocean’s merciless waves, instantly disappearing beneath
their greedy whitecaps. Water flew up into the air as the sun burst over the
horizon, igniting everything into a fiery haze of rebirth. The water hung like
jewels in the air, rubies that sparkled more brilliantly than any star.
Finally the water settled, falling
flat once more as if it had never been disturbed. No signs of the couple
floated upwards, even as both Wufei and Relena searched with all their might.
The ocean had greedily devoured any sign of the angel and demon, as if they
never existed at all. Behind them, Trowa and Quatre just nodded and held each
other, understanding the peace that finally was reached.
And with that knowledge in tact, the
couple turned from the window and slowly walked from the room, finding their
own tranquility within each other.