Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Cult Characteristic ❯ Chapter 12

TWELVE

Heero couldn't repress a yawn as he finally slipped from Chang's makeshift office the following morning. Pink stained the sky he glimpsed through the glass on the front door, sending pastel shards of light across the floor in thick warm streams. He smiled. It was pretty, the kind of thing Duo would stand in, arms flung wide. Curious, Heero looked around to make sure no one was looking, then did just that.

It was like, standing in front of the gates of heaven and knowing if you took another step forward they wouldn't let you in, and yet, it was enough just to be there. Yes, that was why Duo enjoyed it. That was why Heero was enjoying it too.

Sighing, suddenly desperate just to see him, Heero strode through the small gateway into his own wing of the house. It was white, and as yes undecorated, unlike the other wings. It was…clean, airy, spacious. The roof was a series of glass, letting in the morning sun and lighting it like a church hallway. It was beautiful, small rainbows reflecting off the polished marble floor.

As Heero walked, he wondered what he would do with all the space. His wing was huge, much larger than anyone seemed to realise, easily twice the size of little China. Which made him wonder just how big Duo's wing was.

Distracted with thoughts of the dark doorway he had not dared enter, it was several minutes before Heero actually realised what he was seeing. Then it hit in one tumultuous wave and he was thundering back down his hallway, trying not to panic. His bed. His huge white bed. His huge, empty white bed.

He ran down the white hallway, through the foyer and didn't even blink as he entered the dark hallway. Little faces watched him, little tongues bit into his clothing as he brushed past. He ignored them all, eyes sweeping over dark rooms to no avail. The place was empty. Empty empty empty.

He was so intent on searching the house, on proving his fears wrong, he didn't even se the shocked look on Quatre and Trowa's faces when he passed them in the kitchen, nor Wufei's when the man came flying out of little China after hearing him pound his way through the house. When he reached the foyer again, Heero felt his shoulders slump even as fire burned through his skin. Gone.

"Duo…"

Wufei was at his side, a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find him."

"But…He heard us. He might not be…Duo…right now, and no one can find him when…" Heero couldn't bring himself to say it, mind filled with memories he had thought long drowned. Images of Duo in the war, in his Gundam, destroying, fighting, killing, and smiling about it the whole time. Duo hated death, but when he hated someone's life more…Heero felt a shiver run through his body.

"I'm counting on that Heero," Wufei whispered as Quatre and Trowa met entered the foyer, car keys in hand.

"Then how do we find him?" Heero didn't want to let his heart hope, but there was no other choice.

"We all know Duo, and we look for Duo. But there is one person who has never known Duo, who only knows Shinigami."

Heero grabbed the keys from Quatre's startled grasp and bolted for the car, his mind focused on one thing. Fiona.

*

It was taking all his training, all his meditation techniques, to maintain his self control. Wufei was only guessing when he said Fiona would know where Duo had gone, but it was the best thing he could think of, and it kept him calm. Not to mention Heero. Wufei was beginning to wonder just how old you had to be to have an aneurysm.

Fiona's house came into view around the corner, a cute cottage like place with a two door garage and a small ford laser in the driveway. The windows were adorned with pale green curtains that matched the pastel awnings, and the cream rendering of the walls. It was the kind of house children like Duo wished for, complete with two loving parents. No dog. Wufei noticed all this, not really seeing any of it. He was focusing completely on the front door as it swung open, a small form leaping into his arms before he could get his whole body from the car.

"You came to visit me!" Fiona squealed delightedly in his ear, eyes blazing in excitement even as her body tensed instinctively. Wufei saw the moment her mind caught up, when her grip tightened on his shoulders and she felt the tension, and that light, while not disappearing from her gaze, changed into something darker.

"What's wrong?"

Heero was already talking rapidly with Fiona's father at the front door. The older man did not look pleased, but Wufei could already see ready agreement in his face. It was not Heero's request that was upsetting the man, but the reason for them needing such a favour in the first place.

"Fiona, we need your help…"

The fingers dug deep, almost cutting, face suddenly pale but determined.

"He's gone…" She knew it, as instinctively as they had known it when they saw the look on Heero's face. Wufei wondered why she knew Duo so well. It could not possibly be that they had similar childhoods, or that they had endured the same captivity. It was something more. As if they had lived that captivity together, endured the darker side of life in tandem. It was…like the link between Gundam pilots, who fight a war alone. Wufei frowned.

"Yes, Duo is gone."

Something shifted in her face again as she crawled over the back seat and did up her seat-belt, her father getting in on the other side. Wufei watched the emotions swirl and flicker before they finally settled at the same moment Heero started up the car.

"Where to?"

Fiona shifted her gaze out the window.

"The Cult House…" Fiona whispered, but there was no trace of uncertainty in her voice.

"Fiona…are you alright?"

She turned her full attention on her father and he cringed. Wufei mentally winced, wondering if he knew how much of a mistake he had just made. Never show fear, not when you want to love.

"I'm fine Harry." Harry. His name. Not father, nor daddy, dad…Harry.

Heero's foot was heavy on the pedal as he sped across town. Wufei grabbed the spare phone from the glovebox and rang Milliardo, explaining what had taken place and requesting backup. Milliardo and Noin were in a car on their way in less than five minutes, complete with a very particular array of weaponry.

They left the car, and the silence that had hovered, around the block from the Cult house in the same place they had run the raid from. It was a thick, familiar air that surrounded them as they stared inside the boot of the Preventers car Milliardo had bought and stared at the various guns they could use. Each grabbed a bullet proof vest. Heero Noin each grabbed a small hand gun, Milliardo took a rifle. Even Harry was convinced when Heero shoved a small firearm into his hands. Wufei shook his head, stuck a knife in his right boot, then grabbed his spare sword from under the seat of their own car. It was not his favourite blade, but it was efficient for any task, and if he lost it it would not matter.

"Where to Fiona?"

She blinked, looked at Heero in that same disturbing way she had stared out the window before pointing to the front door.

"To the Pit."

Wufei shuddered and saw a ripple run its way down Heero's spine. If the sun had not been up he might have been afraid. As it was, Wufei was just worried. Worried about Duo, and Fiona, and the look in the girl's eyes as she glared not at the building but through it, down into it, and beyond. Where were they going, and why?

Wufei laid a strong hand on Fiona's shoulder and pushed her behind him, making sure Milliardo was directly behind her, the small girl sandwiched between them. Harry was in front of Noin, who had the rear.

They had not entered through the front door that first night, but Wufei had left that way. He gripped himself, knowing what was there, but it was still a shock. Guarding the gateway was a life-size statue depicting Altron's head. It was not Nataku, lacking any spirit and tinged with darkness, but it was still his somehow. It was wrong to see it in this place, looking over those who dared enter. The judge and jury. A fallacy of all he had stood for.

They ignored it, heading through the first floor and down into the first basement, then the second, the third, each doorway guarded by a gundam head, until at last they stood before Wing. Heero glared at the head before charging under it, down the long hallway, past Fiona's cell and up to the doors that led to the ritual chamber.

The floor was still stained red, the walls still held racks of scythes. Dark cloaks still hung on hooks by the door. Barrels were still piled high against the walls. And the posters…thousands of images adorned the walls. Deathscythe in battle. Deathscythe in hiding. Deathscythe destroying, slaughtering, giving death and eternal rest.

Wufei realised there was no guardian Deathscythe head in this chamber. He and Milliardo had been through all the halls of the building and never once seen anything remotely like the other heads to do with Deathscythe. He looked down at Fiona questioningly and knew she understood. He walked with her to the edge of the pit and looked in. They could not see the bottom, just like last time, no light entered the chamber.

"I never escaped," Fiona confessed loudly, had high, proud and bold as she stared resolutely into the pit. "I was freed."

Everyone was creeping closer, to make sure they could hear what was being said. This was important. This was the key.

"Shinigami freed me," Fiona said, softer now, the voice caressing the name, loving it as she obviously loved its owner. Loving it not as a lover, or a friend, or a sister or brother. It was loving it as a soul, a soul that knows your own soul, calling to each other through the darkness of humanity.

"When I came here, they put me in a barrel. They didn't kill me like the other ones. I was the sacrifice. They threw me in the hole…the…liquid…was deeper then…They used to empty it after the sacrifice at the end of the month. I was drowning…I can still taste the blood."

Wufei watched her small pale hand as it moved to her mouth, fingers running along her lips as if she still expected them to be wet and red. He knelt down and hugged her, begging her to continue and apologizing to her all at once.

"You can't see in the pit when you're up here. Even in the firelight, they couldn't see under the water. Shinigami…he dragged me down, and then the…we weren't wet anymore. We were inside something…He told me where to go, told me everything about the house. He said he could hear where things were…He told me how to get out, and how to get help. He said to go to lady Une. Only Lady Une. Anyone else could be…one of them."

Wufei felt tears pricking in his eyes and forced them back. Duo had not trusted them. Loved them, yes, but trusted…But then, why would he trust them when they had failed to find him after eleven months. He must have known they weren't looking. Must have known they probably had never tried. And had trusted Une, and no one else. His worst enemy in the war his only hope. Une and a little girl. His sacrifice.

"I did what he said. I told the Lady everything and she did just what Shinigami said she would. But…I didn't tell…He asked me to keep it a secret, because even Lady Une wouldn't understand…"

She fell silent. Wufei could sense she didn't want to continue, but…Where was Duo?

"Fiona…what wouldn't she understand?" Harry prodded from nearby. Wufei only vaguely noticed he was not coming any closer.

"You wouldn't understand that sometimes you have to do some thing wrong to make it right."

What did that mean? Wufei let it run through his head a few times but came up with a blank.

"I don't understand."

Fiona smiled wanly at the irony. Heero growled. Milliardo and Noin were oddly quiet, waiting to be told where to go.

"Why did you come to this place, Wufei?" Fiona asked, too much knowledge in her voice. Too probing.

"To find…" He stumbled. They had not come to find Duo. They had come to find `the weapon'. They had assumed it was Duo. But…all the Gundam heads.

"It wasn't Duo…Duo is just…"

"Shinigami is the Characteristic, but he is not the Cult. Did you really think it was about a braid? Or memories? Or violet eyes? Did you really believe it was about beliefs? About immortality? About eternity?" Fiona shook her head. "It's just life Wufei. It's just life, and money, and power. Shinigami is everything a Cult aspires to, but he has only one thing they want."

"What?" Heero asked faintly.

"The power to kill," Fiona replied coldly, her eyes boring into Wufei the whole time. "The ability to control the beast and the heart to feel no guilt in the aftermath."

Not guilt. Thirst for revenge. The braid. Fiona was wrong, Wufei knew. Because if that was really what they wanted, then all they had to do was believe as Duo did. Believe that death lives, breathes, speaks and delivers. Believe you are death…made flesh.

"Duo doesn't have that anymore…" Wufei whispered, praying he didn't know her response, desperate for there to be another explanation.

"Doesn't he?" She retorted.

"We sent them into the sun…"

"What has been made once, can be made again, Wufei," she whispered, grabbing a torch from Noin's slack hand and shining it into the pit.

Wufei gasped. What had once been a solid floor was nothing but empty air and far below the outlines of the underground sewer system were visible. And Wufei noticed, not for the first time, that the metal was not rusted. He lay his hand against the wall and it was so familiar.

"Gundanium…" He hissed in awe.

Milliardo and Noin cursed, climbing down the ladder to enter the sewers. Heero followed silently, his hands trailing on the walls, unbelieving. Wufei stood with Harry and Fiona, his hands still on her small shoulders.

"Why didn't you tell us?" He pleaded, needing to know.

Something small and childish, yet oddly ancient reared in her eyes and he knew why before she told him.

"Because I want them to pay, Wufei. I want them to die. I don't believe in God, Wufei. I believe in Shinigami."