Maxwell's Demon

 by Madam Hydra (madamhydra@aol.com)

 

Part 6 / Conclusion ====================================================================== [on Treize's estate] 

With a dark green maintenance uniform tucked under his arm, Trowa quickly glanced into the computer center, but failed to find any sign of Heero. Noting the thin trails of smoke starting to emerge from the computer equipment, he prudently decided to leave the area before the fire alarms went off. 

 

The Heavyarms pilot frowned slightly. Had he been wrong in believing that Heero was no longer suffering the side effects of the drugs? Because if he *was* wrong, there was no telling where the Wing pilot might be at the moment. He decided to search the rooms adjacent to the computer center, on the off-chance that Heero would be working in one of them. 

 

Behind the third door he checked, Trowa found his fellow Gundam pilot staring into a video monitor. But before he catch a glimpse of whatever interested Heero so intensely, the Wing pilot abruptly switched off the monitor. 

 

Without saying a word, Heero reached down and pulled out a disk from one of the video recorders, then joined Trowa in the hallway. He appeared to be his normal self again, with his usual expressionless face and the familiar cold, blue-eyed stare. 

 

"Are you finished?" was Trowa's only words. 

 

"Yes," came Heero's equally curt reply. 

 

-------------------------------------------- [Relena's office] 

Heero and Trowa walked into the waiting room to find both Quatre and Relena happily snoozing. When Trowa touched the blond pilot lightly on the shoulder, Quatre sat up with a yawn and blinked in mild confusion. 

 

Stifling another yawn, the blond pilot answered Trowa's inquiring glance by murmuring, "The lack of sleep must really be catching up with me." He glanced curiously at Heero, who seemed to be looking around the waiting room with unusual intensity, even for him. As he watched Heero open up a filing cabinet, Quatre asked, "Is there anything wrong? Are you looking for something?" 

 

"No," Heero said with his usual flat monotone, closing the filing cabinet with a decisive gesture. He walked over to Trowa, took the clothes from the Heavyarms pilot, and headed for Relena's office. 

 

Trowa quietly said, "What about her?" 

 

Heero stopped and glanced back at Relena. He stared silently at her for a long moment, then turned to look at Duo who was still fast asleep on the desktop. "Leave her." 

 

Quatre frowned slightly. "But Heero, what if she keeps making those ridiculous accusations about Duo?" 

 

"Let her," Heero said with chilling indifference. "She'll only make a worse fool of herself." 

 

"Aren't you worried that someone might eventually believe her?" Quatre fretted. 

 

"Only fools and madmen would believe that creatures like demons or angels exist in this day and age." There was a brief gleam in Heero's cobalt eyes which nearly made the Arab pilot shiver. But it was gone in a flash and Quatre ended up dismissing it as a quirk of overactive imagination. 

 

Heero turned his back on the sleeping girl and walked over to Duo, who was still huddled under Relena's coat, snoring away. The Wing pilot silently lifted the soft cashmere away from Duo's face, then stood there for a brief moment. He neither spoke nor moved, but simply stared down at the long-haired Deathscythe pilot peacefully dozing atop the desk. Heero abruptly shook off his pensive mood and gave Duo's bare shoulder a hard shake. 

 

"Wha...?" Duo blinked sleepily. His words ended in a squawk of outrage as Heero brusquely shoved Duo off the desk, then dumped the dark green coveralls on top of the other's head. 

 

"Wake up and get dressed. We're moving out," the Wing pilot said curtly. 

 

Duo groaned, brushed his tangled hair out of his eyes, and muttered, "Geez, Heero, so much for the romantic mood!" as he rubbed a sore hip. 

 

The only response Duo got was a stony, unapologetic glare and a flat, "Shut up." 

 

"Chi! I guess everything's back to normal. Bummer." Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero's back as the Wing pilot efficiently began removing any trace of their presence in Relena's office. 

 

Despite his complaints and groans, it only took Duo a few minutes to get dressed and ready to leave. He soon gave up trying to untangle the knots in his hair and settled for pulling it back into a messy ponytail. By that time, Heero had retrieved all the remnants of Duo's old clothes, picked up the papers and other miscellaneous desk items scattered all over the floor, and basically put the office into some semblance of normality. 

 

As Duo entered the waiting room, he glanced at the sleeping Relena and stopped short. Jerking a thumb in her direction, he asked, "Heero, what are you planning to do about her? Aren't you going to...." 

 

The Wing pilot said coldly, "I have nothing further to say to her." He grabbed Duo's ponytail and dragged him out into the hallway without another word. Trowa and Quatre quickly followed, leaving behind the bound, but now ungagged Relena loudly snoring on the sofa. 

 

Their escape from the estate turned out to be a total anticlimax -- no high-speed chases, no huge explosions, no raging gunfights.... The various electrical and computer failures had left the OZ forces in such a disorganized state that it was pathetically simple for the four Gundam pilots to slip out of the compound unnoticed. By unspoken agreement, they decided to move to a new safehouse... just in case. 

 

-------------------------------------------- [Treize's suite] 

Wufei Chang could remember waking up in Treize's bed, on Treize's sofa... tied up, tied down... but he had never woken up UNDER Treize's bed. He slowly crawled out, clutched his throbbing skull in his hands, and wondered what the hell had happened that afternoon. And where the devil were Treize and Zechs? 

 

Wufei was vaguely relieved to find himself still fully dressed. As he attempted to get his extremely reluctant brain working again, he staggered over to the sofa, only to find Treize and Zechs curled up against each other on the floor amid a clutter of burnt out candles and numerous empty liquor bottles. They looked rather like a pair of snoozing puppies. 

 

As he tried his best to keep his head from falling off his shoulders, the Chinese pilot swore up and down that he would never touch another drop of that devilish alcohol again. Wufei slowly made his way to the bathroom, gulped the first painkillers he could get his hands on, then stuck his head into a basin of icy cold water. After a half hour, he was feeling semi-human again. 

 

Wufei was just about to slip away when a small heap of printouts caught his eye. He took a second glance, then hastily flipped over the lurid pictures of Heero and Duo before he could get another nosebleed. The Chinese pilot scowled a moment, then reluctantly headed back toward Treize's computer. 

 

-------------------------------------------- [the pilots' new safehouse]

Several hours later, as the other pilots were getting settled in their new hideout, Wufei stalked into the house. He scowled at Duo and Heero, then tossed a sheaf of printouts onto the table. 

 

"You owe me," was all he said before stomping off to find a place to dump his own meager belongings. 

 

Duo thumbed through the papers, then stared irately at Heero. "I thought you said you got rid of Relena's file...!" 

 

"I did," Heero snapped. 

 

When Wufei walked back into the room, Duo started to ask him, "Hey, where did you get this stuff...?" However, his question trailed off in a startled "Meep!" as Wufei marched over to him and gave the Deathscythe pilot a long, searching stare from only a few inches away. With their noses practically touching, Duo clutched the printouts to his chest and stammered, "Errr... is there something wrong, Wufei...?" 

 

The Shen Long pilot gave Duo a decidedly suspicious scowl. He could vaguely remember some discussion about Maxwell.... A hazy, disturbing memory stirred briefly in his aching brain, but it slipped away from his grasp. 

 

As Duo continued give him a startled, wide-eyed stare, Wufei shrugged and turned away with a disgusted snort. 

 

"What the hell was that all about?" a thoroughly bewildered Duo muttered. 

 

"It's nothing important," Wufei said irritably, as he rubbed his forehead in a futile attempt to massage away the remainder of his hangover. 

 

"Uh... o-kay, if you say so. But about these pictures...." 

 

The Chinese pilot muttered, "That crazy female sent Treize an separate email message repeating her asinine accusations." Before Duo could interrupt, Wufei growled, "Don't worry, I erased all traces of her message AND the pictures." His deadly glare warned against any attempt to discover just how he managed to do that. 

 

"Uhh... thanks, Wufei," Duo said. 

 

The Chinese pilot shrugged and stalked out the door in search of some peace and quiet... not to mention a large icebag. 

 

-------------------------------------------- 

Later that evening after dinner, Heero went looking for Duo. He found his quarry sitting at Deathscythe's feet, struggling to brush the tangles out of his long hair. 

 

Duo glanced up to see Heero scowling at him. "What's up?" he asked brightly. 

 

Heero tossed a data disk at Duo, who reflexively caught it, and snapped, "You shouldn't be so careless." 

 

"Careless?" the violet-eyed pilot said with an air of bewilderment as he turned the disk over in his hand. "What the hell's this? That stupid computer virus?" 

 

"No. It's the most recent surveillance video for Relena's office and waiting room." 

 

Duo froze with a shocked look on his face and blurted out, "But that IMPOS-sible...." His voice abruptly trailed off, then he slowly lowered his head. With his long, brown bangs hiding his eyes, Duo uttered a rueful little chuckle. "I see. I suppose you heard and saw... everything." 

 

"Yes." Heero was silent for a long moment, then added in a disturbingly cold voice, "I remember you now. Somewhere in the back of my mind, something about Duo Maxwell always seemed strangely familiar. Now I know why." 

 

Duo released a deep sigh. Without looking up, he continued to turn the disk over in his fingers as he quietly said, "So I guess it's pretty useless for me to pretend that it was all a sick joke on Relena." When Heero remained silent, Duo peeked upward through his bangs and quipped, "Gee, no waving of guns? No threats of 'Omae o korosu?" 

 

"Considering what you are, that's rather pointless, I think." 

 

Duo shrugged carelessly. "Okay. So what now?" 

 

"A few questions." 

 

"Naturally. I'm sure you're just *dying* for some answers." 

 

Heero merely glared at the other boy and snapped, "Who, when, and how?" 

 

"Huh?" Duo blinked in confusion. "You know, most people would be asking 'What the hell are you?' and 'Why the hell are you here?' That sort of thing." 

 

"I already know what you are and I can guess... why... from your conversation with Relena." Duo smacked himself lightly on the forehead. 

 

"Damn it, you DID hear everything." 

 

"Yes." In a frighteningly calm voice, Heero said, "I want to know exactly when this masquerade of yours started." 

 

Duo leaned back against his Gundam's leg and held up his hands. "If you're worried that I somehow sneakily managed to dispose of the real Duo Maxwell and take over his body or junk like that in the last couple of weeks... well, don't be. I'm the exact same person you've known for the last year or more. I've always BEEN Duo Maxwell." 

 

"Is Duo Maxwell a real person or just some convenient fabrication?" Heero coolly inquired. 

 

The long-haired pilot said evenly, "Duo Maxwell is a very real person. *I'M* a real person, Heero. I bleed. I feel pain. I hurt. But if you're asking when Shinigami first entered the picture.... Well, soon after I saw you for the first time, I ended up at L2 colony. There was a virulent plague going around and the people in the ghettos were dying in droves. An antidote existed, but the colony's administrators didn't want to waste valuable resources distributing such an expensive drug to a bunch of penniless nobodies.

 

"While I was there, I came across two street kids. One was already dead from the plague. The other boy was alive, but infected. I knew that in less than a day, I'd be back for him, too. But when I noticed that he looked a lot like me, I got a crazy idea." He shrugged a shoulder. "So I called in a few favors and sort of... I guess you could say 'merged' with that kid.... I was him, he was me. 

 

"And so here I am -- the one and only Duo Maxwell. It's just that... I happen to be Shinigami, too." 

 

Heero asked in an emotionless voice, "If you're really Death...." 

 

Duo rubbed the back of his neck and grinned a bit sheepishly, "Well, if you want to be really picky about it, I'm *A* Death. There's others who do the same sort of job I do. Believe me, there's more than enough work to go around!" 

 

The Wing pilot shook his head irritably. "So on a mere whim, you decided to pretend that you're an ordinary human being?" 

 

With a wistful little smile, Duo said, "Why not? I deserved a well-earned vacation." 

 

"For over a decade?" 

 

"These things are relative. I've been working non-stop for... oh, a very VERY long time.... Even if there aren't wars going on, people are constantly dying from all sorts of reasons... disease, accident, violence, even plain old age. I suppose I just... got tired of it all." 

 

"So that's all it is for you? A way to spend a few decades? A frivolous little game with us puny humans?" 

 

Duo shook his head somberly. "Oh no. It's anything BUT a game to me." He slowly walked up to Heero. "You see, my real reason for taking a human form... well, it's because I was... because I wanted to be with you...." 

 

"But isn't hanging around with me rather like taking a working holiday? Not much of a vacation, is it? Or is that the real reason why you decided to stick around?" Heero retorted, his lips curling upward in a bitter smile. 

 

Duo shouted, "No! That's not it at all! I did all this because I wanted to be together with you and ONLY you. Don't you get it? I love you! I think I loved you from the moment I saw you, all those years ago!" 

 

In a cynical voice, Heero asked, "But if you really want us to be together, then why are you interested in keeping me alive? Why bother saving my life on all those occasions?" 

 

Duo grabbed Heero's shoulders. "Because I don't want to lose you...!" 

 

"How can you lose me?" Heero snapped. "After all, you're Death, aren't you? I'm going to be yours eventually. And considering the sort of life I lead, it's likely to be much sooner rather than later." 

 

"Don't you think I know that better than anybody!?" Duo shouted. 

 

Taken aback by the pain in the other boy's voice, Heero's tense expression eased slightly. "Then what are you waiting for?" 

 

The Deathscythe pilot shook his head slowly. "That's... not how it works, Heero. I'm not some kooky collector of souls. It's my JOB to release people's spirits from their bodies so they can go on to their just rewards." 

 

"Just... rewards?" Duo gestured wildly. "You know... heaven... hell... rebirth... whatever the fates, judges of the dead, or destiny decide. You wouldn't believe the bureaucracy and red tape! But the point is that I don't KEEP any of the souls I take! Once you die, Heero, off you go and that's IT!" 

 

Heero stared at the panting Deathscythe pilot for a long moment. Then he finally said, almost disbelievingly, "Are you afraid of being left ALONE?" 

 

"...." Duo abruptly whirled and turned his back to Heero. 

 

"Duo?" 

 

The long-haired pilot refused to turn around. In the faintest of voices, he whispered, "They all leave... that's what they always do...." 

 

"What did you say?" 

 

Duo twitched slightly, then spun around and said with slightly forced cheerfulness, "Oh, nothing!" In an off-handed way, the long-haired pilot added, "Freed souls are always running off somewhere." He shrugged carelessly. "Places to go, things to do, people to see... that sort of thing. They usually don't bother to stick around to talk. And the ones that do linger... well, they're the undead, the ghosts, the spirits obsessed with something from their mortal lives. And like Relena, obsessed souls aren't the most entertaining of conversationalists." Duo found himself backing up as Heero stalked forward, until he ended up pinned against Deathscythe. 

 

"Is that it?" Heero asked softly. "You're afraid I'm going to leave you alone once I die?" 

 

Duo tried to look away, but Heero grabbed his chin and forced him to meet his cobalt-blue stare. 

 

In low, furious tones, the Wing pilot snarled, "Did you think that when I said, 'I love you,' I was just JOKING?" 

 

"C'mon, Heero. You know that you NEVER would have said it if you weren't drugged out of your mind at the time!" Duo retorted. Then his expression turned wistful. "But I was really glad to hear you say it... even if you didn't know what you were doing." 

 

"Baka. I knew exactly what I was doing. I just couldn't stop myself. Maybe I wouldn't have said it under normal circumstances, but the fact that I wasn't exactly in total control of myself doesn't mean that I was lying to you." 

 

Duo's hand slowly crept upward to grab a hold of Heero's tanktop. "So... are you trying to tell me that when you said...." He was almost afraid to believe what he was hearing. 

 

The Wing pilot scowled at his lover. "When I told that I'd love you forever, that's EXACTLY what I meant!" 

 

"And now that you know what I really am...." 

 

"That doesn't change anything. I wasn't afraid of you when I was a child. I'm not about to be afraid of you now." 

 

"But... does that mean you're not the slightest bit worried that Relena might be right when she claimed that I could control people's minds?" 

 

"Ignoring the fact that Relena's an obvious nutcase to begin with, I don't care if she IS right about that." 

 

"Heero!? You're not serious!" 

 

"I'm perfectly serious." Heero leaned even closer to Duo. "Don't you understand? All my life, I've felt separate... detached... like there was a thick glass wall between myself and the world. I could see, but couldn't touch.... A dying man once told me to 'Live according to your feelings.' But before I met you, it was almost impossible to figure out just what those feelings were. Somehow, you broke through that wall of mine... gave me a connection to the rest of the world... made me WHOLE. 

 

"I like that feeling, Duo. Having lived so long without real emotions, I know just how precious it is. And if through some incredible longshot, Relena turns out to be right with her babblings about mind control... well, as I said before, I really don't CARE." 

 

Duo's amethyst eyes darkened with emotion, then he flung his arms around Heero and held him as close as he could possibly manage. 

 

Wrapping his own arms around Duo's body, Heero whispered quietly, "Strange... it took Death itself to teach me how to be alive...." 

 

Behind Heero's back, Duo held up the video disk in his hand and frowned slightly. No, he *hadn't* forgotten to blank out the security camera in Relena's waiting room. Then how on earth did Heero manage to see.... The black-clad pilot froze, then glanced upward at the night sky with a rueful grin on his face. 

 

Feeling Duo's body stiffen, Heero quickly pulled back and said, "What's wrong?" 

 

Duo shook his head quickly and burst into merry laughter. He tossed the video recording into the air where it disintegrated in a flash of green flame, then shoved Heero back onto the thick grass and pounced on him. As he started to drop slow, tantalizing kisses on Heero's face, Duo murmured, "Forever, Heero?" 

 

"Forever and always." 

 

And as Heero grabbed a hold of his lover's long hair and pulled his head down to show him how to *really* kiss, Duo thought he felt soft, feathery wings encircle him and hold him close. 

 

-------------------------------------------- 

And somewhere, on some distant extra-dimensional plane, two great towering figures faced off. 

 

"He's finally learned how to truly feel," the glowing figure with incandescently white feathered wings noted with great satisfaction. 

 

"He's no longer lonely," commented the ominous, shadow-shrouded and bat-winged figure with a raspy sigh of relief. 

 

The light and the darkness shook hands, grinned smugly at each other, and said in chorus.... "Mission accomplished!" 

 

~~~ OWARI ~~~ 

 

My very *first* completed multi-part fanfic! ^_^ -------------------------------------------- madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E http://www.oocities.org/~madamhydra/ -------------------------------------------- ===================================================================== The Full Disclaimer All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. The characters of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit. Original portion of the fiction included here is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author. =====================================================================