Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Chapter 5

Title: Broken

Author: Skeren Dreamera

Archive: http://www.gundam-wing-fanfiction.net/

Category: Yaoi/Shounen Ai, Fantasy, and Partially AU

Pairings: 4+1, 2+6

Disclaimers: I do not own Gundam Wing! I do however own all original themes, names and characters created over the course of this story! Well, I do not own Relena's lunacy... I don't own any gods or goddesses mentioned here, no matter if I might like to. I do however, own my interpretation of this story line!

Rating: R until further notice.

Warnings: Supernatural themes

Spoilers: Endless Waltz, End of the main series

Feedback: Mickeofas@yahoo.com

Notes: Yes, people, I finally got to the next chapter. Thanks to all of you who reviewed!

There was a moment of complete silence while Wufei and Trowa were stared at by their teammates. Nothing happened. Wufei raised an eyebrow. Trowa smirked. Everyone else made gestures of exasperation.

"I think you are putting too much stock in the fact that a radio might have been the source of your transformations." Wufei shook his head at them. "I think Marquise and Maxwell would do best if they would go out and make use of their new skills. I have serious doubts they will learn anything sitting around here."

Duo nodded after a moment of consideration. "Damn. You're right Fei. It's not like I want to try and use death stuff on you guys!"

Zechs merely rolled his eyes as he got to his feet, already walking to the door. "Come on Duo. Time to go out into the world."

Wufei huffed in mild indignation. "It's Wufei!" There wasn't much heat in it though, as that was a nickname that Duo had given him that he liked and he was rather attached to it.

"Yeah, yeah. Fei Fei, Zechsy baby and me are gonna go now. Bye." Duo twiddled his fingers, snagging Zechs' sleeve as he headed for the door. He was eager to see just what he could do, and he was completely certain that they'd have a chance to practice their new skills. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know how that was going to happen.

-______________-

They'd expected things to be bad when they hit the closest city. They'd expected it to be like the war all over again, with noise and action everywhere. What they hadn't expected was what they saw laid out in the dip of the hill. What was worse was that Duo could see them. Before they even got close he could see the blanket of freed souls that were trapped near the city in a brightly-lit mass. Duo grew pale as they drew close to the silent city. A city so big should never be so quiet. All they could hear was the engine of their vehicle. There was no damage, no smoke, just those souls up above to serve as a warning before they drove into the city streets.

Duo turned and looked out the window, eyes wide. "No..." There weren't any bodies. It was like all that ever existed of the people was the blood that stained the walls of each of the buildings they passed. Duo wanted desperately to believe that someone took the term 'Painting the town red' a little too far, but he already knew that this wasn't paint. It was blood. There was no way to deny the smell of blood that filled the place, and Zechs drew the car to a stop in the middle of the street to lean against the wheel, allowing a stray breeze to blow in, sharpening the utter silence of the dead city. "No!" Duo's voice rose to a shout as he scrambled to open the car door. Someone had to be alive in the city. They couldn't all be dead...

Zechs closed his eyes, trying to ignore the overwhelming smell. Once he collected himself he went after Duo to stop the frantic pilot as he started to throw door after door open. Zechs quickly moved after him, grabbing the braided man's arm and spinning him around to face him. "Duo, stop! They won't come out if they are alive. No matter what you say, they won't answer with this behind you."

Duo stared up at Zechs and shook his head slowly. "The entire city... Why would she? War... I can see war... But what is this? This is... It's carnage... Where are the bodies? There should be bodies Zechs."

"I know. Can you tell if there is anyone that isn't dead?" Zechs studied Duo's face, watching him calm.

"Nothing Zechs... All that are here is them." Duo pointed a hand skyward to the cloud of trapped souls above, eyes wide. "They're the only ones here, and they want to leave."

Zechs peered upward at the cloudless sky, unable to see what Duo was seeing. "Duo?"

Duo closed his eyes and lowered his hand, taking a deep breath as an idea came to him. "There isn't anyone alive here Zechs. Lemme go." Duo opened his eyes, the color subtly changed so that they were pure glowing dark purple. "I have to see if I can make them go to the other side." Zechs stepped back as Duo's clothes changed into the black robes, scythe materializing. "I have to try. If I can't find their bodies I have to see what else I can do."

Zechs backed away as Duo's wings ripped outward from the chestnut haired vision, then Duo leapt upward on his first flight. "You're the best person to try."

Duo swung his scythe around once, getting the hang of flying with only his own body. He barely even had that much time to get used to the idea. The reaction he got once one of the souls noticed him was not the one he'd expected at all. He really hadn't expected to be noticed to quickly either and was unprepared for the sudden assault. They rushed him with a flow of pleas for freedom, nearly sending Duo right back out of the sky before he could start to swing, hearing each thank you as a sting at his heart when he cut down each figure from the mass. He didn't want to see them suffer so, and they knew they were already dead, but he never had wanted to be thanked for cutting someone down. They knew him, and he couldn't help but be glad that they came to him for their final end even as he closed his heart to the feelings this was evoking.

Even as Duo's scythe swept through soul after soul to make the bright beings dissipate, they continued to come to him in unceasing waves. Below, Zechs continued to watch the determined dance, unable to see what Duo fought while the figure seemed to blur above him. So he waited. Duo was fighting hard, because not only did they come to him for solace, but with greedy hands. Dead, bodiless fingers of pure cold that wanted his life or their own passing, which ever they could reach first. Like this the two reincarnations remained well into the night before the last bright soul was cut. Duo dropped to the ground almost too quickly in relief to the ground, staggering in exhaustion. Zechs caught him as his knees gave out, lending support to his counterpart.

Duo shuddered once and leaned into Zechs, clothes fading abruptly into his own black garb. "I'm tired... Can we go back now? I want to get away from all the blood." Duo's voice was a far cry from his normal silky tones, having been turned hoarse in the long hours of movement.

"Of course Duo. Let's get back to the safe house, the others need to know about this." Zechs led Duo back tot he car then climbed in and powered up the engine, swinging the wheel to go back the way they came.

-_______________-

Duo was barely able to crawl out of the car and enter the safe house, his back against the wall as he slammed his open to enter, losing his balance. He felt drained beyond a battle, rather like he'd managed to sap himself emotionally as well. "Next time you two go out!" Duo glared at the four still in the room as Zechs followed him in, again catching Duo as the braided man lost his footing due to his weak knees.

Quatre was out of his seat in a shot, running to look over Duo with Heero barely a step behind. "Duo what happened, are you okay?"

Zechs sighed, watching Quatre clutch his chest as he followed them both to the couch where Zechs sat Duo down then sat beside him. "What happened was a nightmare."

Wufei lifted his head in confusion, looking over to the couch as Heero settled on the other side of Duo. "How was it a nightmare?"

Duo sent a scathing glare at he who dared ask the question then decided to answer him, talking in a low, even voice. "First, as we approached, the city was silent. A silent city! Then there was a bright cloud of souls practically smothering the place." Duo paused with a shudder as he came to the next part. "Then as we drove into the city... Blood. The buildings were covered in blood, man! But there were no bodies anywhere. I... I couldn't stand to see all the souls up there like that. So I went up, then they just rushed me, and I sent em over for hours and now... Here I am." Duo leaned to the side against Zechs and closed his eyes. The tall blonde was a good pillow.

Zechs looked to Duo then around the room for a moment as he considered what to add to the short monologue, and barely understandable words. "There were no people, alive or dead. Just their blood and souls." Zechs gently pushed Duo to the other side, resting the now sleeping death godling over against Heero as he sighed. "Someone turn on the radio, maybe it'll become more clear how they did this."

Duo shivered, turning his face into Heero's shoulder in his was asleep, causing the blue eyed man to just sigh and loop his arm around him so he didn't fall over. "You mean there weren't any entire bodies?"

Zechs shook his head before rising to hunt out a radio. "No, I mean there were no bodies. The city was pristine aside from the blood. No damage, no bodies, nothing!"

Wufei was practically fuming in place over the very idea. "An entire city? Everyone?"

Zechs turned around for a moment to look at Wufei then sighed and resumed his search. "Yes Wufei, everyone."

It was then that Trowa started inching away from Wufei's chair, soon followed by Heero and Quatre. Wufei wasn't practically fuming at all. He was fuming, smoke curling away from him and all. "Wufei?" Trowa tilted his head as he heard Quatre's softly concerned voice, but found himself oddly lacking in interest of speaking out loud.

Wufei swiveled his head around to face Quatre, then released a breath, his eyes were pitch black, entirely consumed in the color where his hair seems to shimmer with the various colors he dyed it. When Wufei stood to look at his seat, golden and green dragon wings curled about his shoulders from underneath his new attire of a white cloak and vest. Wufei's eyes took in the mildly scorched surface of his chair and he flexed his hands once in annoyance, drawing attention to the wicked claws resting there now. Earrings glimmered at his ears when Wufei glanced around, apparently oblivious to his change. "We have to do something about this now! We can't wait any longer to fix this atrocity!"

Duo's eyes opened as he heard the shout and he just stared, blinking a few times. "Who are you an what did you do with Wufei?"

Wufei stopped the words he was about to say abruptly to answer Duo. "What?"

Duo blinked a few times. "You look cool!" Duo was suddenly up on his feet, circling Wufei to take in the changes when the draconian looking man spun around with a growl.

"Stop that!" Wufei then looked down at himself as well before lifting his head to glare at Duo once more. "It's nothing more impressive than yourself, so go elsewhere!"

Duo shook his head and moved to go collapse back onto the couch, gaze hunting out the other member of their team. They'd been pulling this in pairs so far, so his eyes searched out Trowa. He was a bit suprized when he found him that it wasn't so much the packaging that had changed so much as the expression. He was smiling. His hair had been turned deep red, his eyes glowed, and his clothes had been transmuted, but nothing else appeared to have changed. It wasn't until he moved to rest a hand on Wufei's shoulder that the changes became obvious. His new black cloak had veiled his leather and velvet pants and shirt of dark green effectively, as well as a feline tail that was the same shade as his hair. He didn't say a word to any of them, but Wufei visibly calmed.

"Now why couldn't I have remained that normal looking?" It was Quatre who broke the new silence, sounding rather pouty from where he'd settled beside Heero.

Zechs came back with the radio in hands, taking in the changes in his comrades before glancing to Quatre. "At least you can fly." With that, he clicked on the radio. Maybe it would explain a how, or at the very least that it wasn't a widespread occurrence, as they feared.

There was a momentary silence on the radio as it switched off the tail end of a song, then the familiar voice of the person that had been keeping them in touch with the world spoke up. "I bet you're all wondering out there what's happening. From what I understand our stations have been going down on a regular basis since this morning. Now don't ask me why, I don't have a solution, but I do know that people are leaving the Sanq area in droves. There have been whispers that a plague hit the area around here, and that's why everyone's heading out, but that doesn't explain a thing to those of us who've lost track of loved ones. Our hero's where are you guys? We need you now, so please, come on out and see if you can't save us from ourselves again. War's been declared people. Dorothy Catalonia is at the head of the colonies against Earth sphere and Relena Darlian-Peacecraft. So much for peace." There was a moment of shuffling before the toneless voice that was the girl doing the official reports came on.

"War has indeed been declared. Catalonia has been appointed a post as a general against Earth Sphere due to the sudden cut off of communications from the land and space. War is never far from our doorstep, because it's always this easy." The radio clicked off into silence entirely then, and they waited for something to come on, but nothing returned to the station at all.

"That doesn't sound good..." Quatre leaned back on the sofa, then looked over to the other's. "I think it's time to go now."

With a nod, everyone set into movement, gathering their things together into the bags and pulling themselves back to their human appearances, were they not already. They were ready to go within an hour. "I hope this is a good idea Q." Duo swung his bag into the back of the car last, after everyone else's and looked to the small blonde turned brunet.

"We don't have time to wait anymore. If rumors of a plague are circulating, then we need to go now." Heero opened the car door for the others before climbing in himself and shutting it behind him. They were seated the same way they were on the way there.

"You're right. No matter what, we have to stop whatever is annihilating the cities." Duo nodded a little and bucked himself into the back. "Zechs, drive through the city. They have to see what we did."

"Alright, I will." Zechs started the engine and started to drive.

-______________-

It wasn't until they were at the top of that hill again that anyone spoke. "Where is the city?" These words were from Wufei, who was peering out the window in confusion.

Duo leaned forwards to look between the seats as Zechs followed the road down. There was nothing there at all. It was like some giant hand had swept it all away in their passing. There was nothing but a giant area of dust, not even grass growing near the single road they drove on. Giving in to impulse, Duo rolled down the window. The smell hit them all instantly. The smell of blood still permeated the air, and there was no mistaking it. "It was here."

Zechs shuddered once, then hit the gas, kicking the car into a higher gear. "Yes, it was here, but it's gone now."

The others fell silent once Duo rolled up the window, looking warily out their own windows. There was some shuffling, then one of Quatre's CD's made its way into the player. For the rest of that night, they listened to classical music.

To be continued.