Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Death Becomes Him ❯ The Final Choice ( Chapter 30 )

Gundam Wing is not mine. Fortunately, this story is! But I dun' wanna infringe on copyrights or nothing, so let's just say that you own Duo, and I own Duo, and pretend this conversation never happened...what kind of a disclaimer is this anyway?! Bah!

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SUNDAY:

Shi-chan: Bloody cliffhangers! Actual cliffhangers! Anyway, I don't care if okaachan hides the keyboard for the next three MONTHS, I'm writing this chapter and I'm doing it NOW!

Duo: Aren't we enthusiastic all of a sudden?

Shi-chan: Yeah, well, I have two tests tomorrow and I need sleep. And I am sure as hell not putting this off.

Quatre: Then can we have a couple of nights off?

Shi-chan: Maybe. I have Christmas shopping to do, so I might not have as much time for writing.

All: Thank God...

Shi-chan: Gee, you're so encouraging...on with the fic!

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Death Becomes Him: The Final Chapter

~By Shimegami-chan

Part 30

Everything that was in those other chapters is probably here. Well, most of it anyway. >.<

As for those voices, yeah, they're supposed to be utterly confusing. I got confused writing them. You're not supposed to be able to figure out who the two speakers are. Who did you think the voices were? I'd really like to know!

Anyway, please read & review! This is the end, guys!

He lunged for the shadows hand and barely managed to grasp its wrist. Suddenly that silky smooth baritone voice, so familiar, was back in his head.

//You've got him.//

Yet he still stood in the dark, cold place called Death. "Now what?"

//Hold on tight.//

He latched his other hand around the first. "Holdi--aargh!" the colbalt-eyed shadow's hand suddenly had all its weight on it and he jerked forward, still holding tight.

The voice--his own voice--faded into a whisper in the back of his head. //Don't let him go, Duo. Don't let him slip away.//

Duo nodded assent and held the blue-eyed shadow's hand.

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Heero expected his entire life to flash before his eyes, but all he could see was Duo, in his mind's eye, begging him not to do this, not to jump. Heero's resolve weakened slightly, but too late--

his stomach heaved as the whole world dropped out from under him.

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"Shitshitshitshitshit!" Duo grunted and tightened his grip. "I can't hold him!"

//And at last we reunite.//

"What!?" Duo cried. "Didn't we do that already?"

The black oblivion shattered into a thousand pieces like a breaking mirror.

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

Heero shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the sea to rush up and meet him. He could hear the waves crashing below; hear Duo's strangled cries, hear the blood pounding through his ears as he went through shock and regret and anger and disbelief all at once. /That was stupid, Yuy. You idiot, you deserve to die./

Yet the waves did not surge up to claim him.

Pain radiated through Heero's body like a thousand stinging needles, his skin peppered with tiny stones. /Perhaps I'm already dead./

His heart was in his throat. "Oh God, I'm so sorry...Duo..." Tears welled up behind his closed eyelids. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay, it's okay..." Duo soothed him in some lost memory.

The physical pain wasn't too much for Heero at all, but he felt as though his heart had been torn in half.

"Hee-chan? Hee-chan?" Duo questioned at the back of his mind.

"Gomen ne, Duo, so sorry...I should have listened to you..."

"It's okay, Heero, really! But please..."

"Duo..."

"Oi, Heero-man...could you give me a little help here? At least try not to die for a couple of minutes?"

"What?" Heero finally opened his blurred eyes and looked down. The unforgiving sea thrashed below him as if reaching out in anticipation, while Heero hung suspended in a moment in time.

No, he was being suspended by something else, something that had bitten-off nails that dug painfully into the nerves below the skin on his arm. Heero looked up.

/It can't be.../ Heero gazed into those same indigo eyes that had once stared so deep into his soul and had seen a person Heero never thought he was. The eyes were narrowed in intense concentration and looked like they might burst into tears at any moment.

"D-Duo...?" Heero whispered shakily, lost in the violet eyes. His vision finally cleared enough to see a slim, fine-boned face, small nose, pink lips that called his name softly. Heero shook his head to clear the beautiful vision.

"Heero. Hee-chan! I'm serious, I can't hold on much longer!" Duo persisted, a droplet of sweat running down his cheek. Heero finally jolted back to reality.

He was hanging over the edge of the cliff by one arm, punctured by nail marks and blood streaming down, his body hanging limp. Duo had both hands clutched around Heero's right wrist, panting in exhaustion and anxiety, his black boots making enormous furrows in the soft ground above. His upper body was mostly off the edge already, chestnut braid swinging maddeningly just out of Heero's reach.

Heero tentatively raised his left hand up to meet his right, grasping Duo's wrist. Duo smiled through gritted teeth and dug his toes even further into the mud. "Come on, Hee-chan. You can do this."

Heero reached out to grab the rocky face of the cliff and transferred some weight to that hand. Duo sighed in relief.

For a skilled soldier such as he, the cliff should have been nothing at all to climb, but Heero was too stunned and tired to do more than just hang there. Duo gathered all his strength and muscled his lover's limp body up and towards him, past the danger point.

Both boys collapsed on the wet ground, trembling in fear and exhaustion. This time Duo held Heero in his arms, gripping his cold hands tightly and whispering nonsense.

"You-you can't be r-real." Heero stuttered, shivering.

Duo pulled his lover close to him. "Shh, it's all right, I'm here, Hee-chan, go ahead and cry or freak or whatever."

"Duo, please...I'm sorry..." Heero mumbled.

"What for?" the violet eyes held nothing but love and excited relief.

"I shouldn't have done that. I should have listened to you!"

Duo brushed Heero's bangs away from his face. "We all make mistakes, Heero. Don't worry about it."

/I'm forgiven./

Heero collapsed, tears streaming from his eyes, against Duo's warm chest.

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Quatre stared at the spectacle. "Oh, Allah..."

Wufei grunted. "If only we could hear what they were saying."

"All in good time." Trowa said calmly. "Duo's coming."

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Duo gathered the Japanese boy's weight in his burning arms and stumbled over to where the three pilots stood. "What's up guys?"

Quatre brushed moisture from his sparkling blue eyes. "Oh, Duo..."

Both boys were a mess. Heero's clothing was rumpled and his hair wild, streaks of blood from the cuts on his arms had dried all over them both. Duo was covered in mud from the waist down, his braid was becoming unravelled, his face was covered with a fine sheen of sweat.

"Are you okay?" Trowa queried.

"Yeah, I think we're fine." Duo carefully passed his burden to Wufei. The Chinese boy grimaced at all the blood, but held Heero's weight close against his body.

Quatre ducked under Duo's arm to help support him. "Let's head home, then."

The American nodded in agreement.

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"I still don't understand." Duo, dressed in fresh black clothes and his gold cross once again around his neck, kept a close watch on Heero.

//No...but really, nobody does...//

Heero moaned once and turned over, flinging a bandaged arm across Duo's pillow. Duo only half wanted to jump into the bed beside the Japanese pilot, instead he stayed steady on the chair and continued the conversation with the voice in his head. "Well, what do I do now?"

//What do you want to do?//

"Do I have a list of options, or something?"

//Not really...it is so rare for a person to physically return to the other side that no one really knows the limit of what they can achieve. But I can tell you some.//

"Um...okay, shoot." Duo bit the end of his cross nervously.

//You can cross to the other side, if you desire...I still possess power enough to break that barrier. Most people, once they've had a taste of what's to come, simply don't want to remain. The other side promises happiness and contentment. It is said that mortals can never be truly happy in life, as that lingering feeling of doubt is always present. It is a sign of better things to come in the future. That doubt is gone, only happiness exists.//

"If you've played your cards right."

//Yes...that's true. But Duo, do you really believe that you don't deserve to be content?//

Duo closed his eyes thoughtfully. "It's occurred to me...more than once..."

//One of the reasons why you could never feel at peace here.//

"Because of the things I've been forced to do, the soldier's life I've led." The chestnut-haired pilot stared at his hands. They were shaking, just a little.

//Right.//

"I don't know if I could ever be happy there, though...are you trying to persuade me to just give up on life, or what?"

//I'm not persuading you to do anything.//

"You said you were a part of me."

//I am. I am your courage, your strength, your resolve...//

Duo rolled his eyes. "You're a goddamn split personality!"

//And you're talking to yourself, genius.//

This silenced the American for a few seconds. "Point taken. Keep talking, O-Conscience-Of-Mine."

//You could stay here. I don't know what effects it would have on you, though...you have no body. You're still without a vessel, you can phase, you can fly, you can be seen only by those who know you well enough. I don't know what would happen after that: would you be Heero's guardian? Like an angel? Would you ever age? Perhaps once you were to choose to stay here you remained for eternity. You would watch your friends become old and die. That strength which brought you here would diminish with time, as life continued around you, and you were caught in the eternal guise of a young boy with death in his eyes and all around him. I don't know what would happen to you...it's never been done.//

"I don't have a lot of great choices, do I?" Duo slumped back in his chair.

//No...not really...//

"What will become of you?" Duo asked curiously. "How did you come to be, anyway? I'm almost sure I never had a split personality before. Can I touch you, like I did when we stood in the darkness? Are you real, tangible?"

//When we stood together in Death, it was because you were caught between the two worlds. You were too young to die, my friend. There was so much life left in you, so much love. You returned to this world first because of that love, because you sensed your lover in danger. You needed to protect him. Your spirit, your very essence, returned you to him with that will. I was a part of you then, there was no separation between us. I was you and you were me. However, once Heero was out of danger, we began to return to our final destination. Even though we didn't want to leave Heero, we hadto. It wasn't a conscious decision, it was Fate. But Fate intervened again.//

"Okay..." Duo wrapped the end of his braid around his wrist and rocked back and forth against the chair.

//We stood between the two worlds. That was when we separated. You--the part of you that is Duo Maxwell--stopped yourself from passing through the border. Your soul was on one side, your essence on the other. You were the other. I stood on that fine line between the two worlds--you were being drawn by instinct to the other side, but I blocked that passage. Again, it wasn't conscious, I was being controlled by you, as it was supposed to be. When the essence separates from the spirit, the spirit moves on to the next world and the essence, the physical memories and feelings, are incorporated into something else. It depends on one's belief. But I--the will of Duo Maxwell--was so determined not to leave Heero's side that I could stand between both worlds and see everything. That was when you--the essence--regained control of yourself. No one has stood long enough at that borderline to ever do so. Duo...the roles were not reversed. But you felt my presence, and recognized it as your own, and that was when we began to communicate. The only difference between us then was that you saw what was happening to Heero through me, and I saw everything--Heero, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, the other side, angels above, demons below. When you took my hand you reclaimed me--your personality and your spirit came together again, and you were whole once more. You still stood in Death, but as you touched me you saw what I saw standing on that border, and it became real and tangible again. You saw Heero's eyes in the darkness--he was the reason you did not rest in peace in the first place, too much pent-up anguish inside you both brought him to the cliff that day when you first returned. You reached for Heero, caught him as he fell--and that was when all hell broke loose. Duo, your courage and your will to live and your love for Heero shattered Death, you made your own conscious decision that this boy belonged to you and no other. You came back again, this time taking me with you, taking your soul back, joining them again. You became whole again. And you saved Heero from himself.//

Duo sighed. "Are you going to be insulted if I say, 'I don't get it?'"

//I would not be surprised. Trust me.//

"All right." Duo rubbed his palms together absently. "If I--as you say--absorbed you, and we are one and always have been, why do I hear you talking in my head?"

//Whose voice do you hear?//

"My own, obviously." Duo sniffed in exasperation.

//I said before, that you saw everything I saw.//

"Yeah, you mentioned that."

//When we came together, all those memories became yours.//

"Uh-huh." Duo still didn't understand.

//Duo...you remember our conversation in the darkness?//

What was he getting at? "Of course."

//You remember speaking with me.//

"Yeah. But if we're together now..."

//Duo...you remember the conversation, and assume I'm still here. But you hold all the knowledge I do. You're just imagining that I'm talking to you, because you know exactly what I'd say.//

"Whaaaaaat?"

//You've got a split personality, Duo.//

"WHAAAAAAT?"

//Well...not really. But why are you still talking as though you expect me to answer?//

Duo rapped his knuckles against his head and considered the words carefully. Now that he thought about it, the other him might be right. He had distinct memories of seeing his own indigo eyes in the darkness, remembered standing on the edge of oblivion, even though both events had transpired at the same time.

I get it...my brain was still trying to figure out why I had two sets of memories during those few minutes...I think.

Aloud, he said, "I don't really have a split personality, do I?"

He imagined that the voice in his head would say, 'Look at you, you idiot, you're talking to yourself. What do you think?' But no response came, not even from his own lips. "Yosh! I think I understand now!"

One hurdle down. Although I probably could have worked this out a lot faster if I hadn't just spent half and hour talking to an imaginary voice in my head... But what to do? I want to stay here with Heero. But the consequences of that decision don't sound so great.

He sighed. I'm not gonna leave Heero. Not again. Not after all that.

Duo Maxwell folded him arms and stared at the wall, deep in thought. I need a plan.

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Quatre peeked into the room to find an interesting scene: Heero was curled up quietly on the bed, while Duo was passed out on top of it with one arm flung possessively over Heero. Duo was snoring softly.

The little Arab gently slid the comforter out from under Duo and brought it up to the American's chin. Duo opened his eyes. "Q-man?"

"Yes, it's me. I was just checking on you two. Has he woken up?"

"No, nothing yet. He must be in shock. And he didn't sleep last night." Duo yawned and sat up. "What's going on downstairs?"

"Nothing much. Wufei and Trowa are playing chess; I'm starting to get dinner ready. Are you going to eat?"

"Hell yes. I'm starved." As if to prove his point, Duo's stomach made a loud rumbling noise. "Um, yeah. Maybe I'll grab a snack now anyway."

The chestnut haired boy hopped out of the large bed, careful not to disturb his partner's slumber. The two young pilots headed down to the kitchen.

"Are you going to tell me about it, Duo?" asked Quatre softly. "We're rather curious as to what's going on..."

"I don't know yet," Duo confessed. "I have a few choices. I could...pass on...and go on to whatever lies for me there. Or I could stay here with you guys, but that wouldn't be good for long-term. I wouldn't age, I wouldn't change. You guys would grow up and grow old and pass away, and I'd be here for eternity or god-knows-how-long. Apparently--" he swallowed. "--apparently, not enough people have ever returned to this world from death for anyone to know much about it. And those who have returned accomplished what they came back to do, and then went on to the Other Side. No one's ever stayed behind before, willingly...it's too big a risk, and not worth it."

Quatre smiled sadly. "I see what you mean."

Duo phased his hand and passed it through the kitchen table. "Only those who know me well are able to see me...I don't think I need to possess them,--which I think I still can--but once the people I know and love leave this world, I'll be totally alone. No one will see or hear me, I'll just be wandering the earth and wishing I had died when I had the chance."

"What will you do then?" Quatre put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let yourself go?"

"I'm not sure." Duo shot him the Maxwell grin. "But I'm not going anywhere right now. And there are still lots of possibilities out there that I haven't thought of yet." Shinigami always has a plan...

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The clock struck midnight.

He grunted and heaved the last shovelful of dirt over his shoulder. "That's it."

The black-clad man used every ounce of strength he had to open the heavy wooden lid. What he saw inside made shivers run up and down his spine.

It hadn't changed at all, even though the man had expected it to. It was starkly pale, yes, but that was understandable. Cold to the touch. He lifted the heavy object up without much difficulty and, handling it like it was glass, began to trudge away from the pile of dirt and the cold, unfeeling place. He hoped his hunch would prove correct--if not, he couldn't think of any other option.

Protecting his treasure from the wind, he strode forward with only one goal in mind.

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He snapped awake, alone in the dark.

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*Bang bang bang*

"Hai, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Sally Po stumbled out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe. *Bang bang bang*

The knocking on her door continued relentlessly.

"I said I'm COMING!" she yelled. It was way too late for this--or was it early? It must certainly be urgent for anyone to come to her house at this time.

She unlocked the door and cautiously opened it to reveal a short man dressed in all black, clutching a body to his chest. A motorcycle helmet obscured the man's face; with the visor down.

"Dr. Sally," a low, gruff voice said from under the helmet, "I need your help. Are you the one who treated this boy?"

Sally gasped. "Oh my God!" The body the man held was none other then Duo Maxwell, gaunt and pale and lifeless. She fumbled for a weapon, any weapon, but could find none. The slight man however held a small pistol in his gloved hands, and he pointed it at her. "Answer me, please."

"N-no." Sally stammered out. "I knew him, but I didn't treat him...who the hell are you!?"

The man forced the door open with his foot, still pointing the gun at Sally. "I don't want to hurt you, I just need some questions answered...but if I tell you who I am and what I intend to do with Maxwell then I suspect you would not be able to help me. Now just step inside and let me put Maxwell down."

Sally, fire blazing in her eyes, stepped back. "Tell me who you are! You're not Heero...are you?" /He flipped. Just like Quatre said. Shit. I knew they should have brought him in./

"It's none of your concern. Right now, Maxwell is your concern." He carefully placed the stiff body on the couch. "I need questions answered."

"What?" Sally growled.

"He died because of a brain tumour. Am I right?"

"Yes." That fact was common knowledge; Sally had read all the details of Duo's treatment. "He didn't even know it was there. He was in a coma...he was brain-dead."

"Could he have survived the cancer if he hadn't gone into the coma?" questioned the man.

"Possibly, yes." Sally said dubiously. "But he was gone before they had a chance to operate. They took him off the machines. He had no next of kin."

Even through the mask and helmet, the man seemed to glower at Sally. "What drugs or chemicals or whatever did they use while they were treating him?"

Sally looked at the body on her couch. "I can't say for sure...if he wasn't so pale, I would think he was just sleeping. Then again, he's only been--" she swallowed hard "--gone...a week. They probably used a thinner on him to keep his blood moving, maybe painkillers, I don't know, um--"

"Thinner? Is that why he looks...like that?"

Sally's eyes lingered on the body. "He had a small respirator implanted in him--his breathing reflex had stopped, but they weren't sure whether he was lost or not. I made sure that he had the best care possible...and Quatre spared no expense...so they put the respirator in him."

"He looks like he's sleeping." The black clad man gazed at Duo's body. Sally shivered. Maybe it was Heero under there after all.

"Is that all you wanted?" Sally was anxious to have the stranger out of her house.

"Not quite." The man raised a hand to show that the pistol was still pointed at her. "This is going to sound nasty, and I know you don't do autopsies...but I'm not skilled enough to handle this." He removed a black bag from his shoulder and placed it on the coffee table. "Open it up, Doctor."

Sally uneasily opened the bag, unsure of what she'd find. Inside were a pair of gloves and an assortment of sharp implements, medical tools. She sucked in a breath. "Wh-what?"

The black man back away from Sally and stood against the wall, aiming the gun directly at her chest. "I need you take the tumour out of him."

"WHAT!?" Sally stared at the man in horror. "No way!"

"Do it, Doctor." the gruff voice suddenly turned very cold. "I won't hesitate to kill you if don't."

"You're insane...you are Heero, aren't you!?" she accused, holding her shaking fingers far away from the bag.

"Fine. I'm Heero. Now be good for me, Sally, and take it out."

"No!" Sally cried defiantly.

Heero fired a warning shot into the floor. Sally's knees went weak.

"Do it."

Sally reached for the bag and took out a scalpel. She tried not to pass out on the floor.

"No sudden movements, now. Have you ever performed brain surgery before?"

Sally nodded quietly.

"Great. Well, it's not like he needs anaesthetic or anything, so get going."

"Heero...I wish you wouldn't do this..."

Heero's low laugh was enough to scare her into actually turning Duo over onto his back and pulling the gloves on. "Heero..." she said quietly. "The others told me you were having problems with split personalities...so I'm not going to blame anything on you...but...this is..."

"Perhaps I'm a necromantic." the young pilot said quietly.

"Heero..."

"Get moving."

Sally held the scalpel and gingerly made the first cut, not knowing what to expect. There was blood, but not much--his heart wasn't pumping it out anymore. Sally relinquished any thoughts about her grisly task and continued on in silence.

Hours passed. Heero did not move an inch.

It would have been a difficult operation--if Duo had been alive, Sally knew that what had just transpired would have certainly killed him. She had just performed major surgery on a dead body in her living room--the couch was covered in blood, her hands were covered in blood, and she was pale and sweating when she finally set the instruments back on the table.

"I'll get you a new couch," he promised.

She didn't reply.

"Sally, I--thanks."

"Heero...it's just.... wrong..."

He looked thoughtful. "You might be right. But I'm going on the off chance that I'm right. Do you--do you think you could clean some of the blood off him?"

Sally wordlessly retrieved a cloth from the kitchen, Heero and his gun following her every movement.

"Heero...what did you plan on using him for?" Sally began to mop the dark blood from the back of Duo's neck.

Heero looked down, his feature still hidden behind the helmet. "I can't tell you that. Until I know what's going to happen."

Sally was horrified. "Oh, God! Heero!"

Heero's head shot back up in a panic. "No! Not that!"

The young doctor was shaking in fear and disgust. "Oh, Heero..."

"You'll see, if it works. Turn on the respirator."

"What?" Sally gaped at him. "Heero, he's gone already! Just because you can make his lungs take in oxygen doesn't mean you can--"

"Do it." Heero snapped. "Now."

The frightened woman opened Duo's shirt and found the little metal box. Gingerly she restarted the device. Duo's chest began to rise and fall.

Heero breathed a sigh of relief at this. "Isn't technology wonderful? Thank God..." He lowered the pistol just a little bit.

Sally glared daggers at him. "I can't believe what you're doing."

"Aren't I right though?" Heero stared in disbelief at the stiff form. "You took out the cancerous cells. If he had only woken up, wouldn't he have lived?"

"He would have died in the operation." Sally retorted.

"But he was already dead," Heero said, as though he was making perfect sense. He lowered the pistol.

Sally chose that moment to grab the scalpel and lunge at Heero. "You BASTARD!"

Heero brought the gun back up. "Sally! Don't do anything stu--shit!" he ducked and barely avoided the sharp implement.

"I don't care if you shoot me, Heero, you need to get yourself under control! This is just wrong!"

"You think--" he dove to the side "--that that didn't occur to me?" He pointed the gun back at her with trembling fingers, but he wasn't pulling the trigger.

"You know I'm right!" she yelled, crashing into him. "And after what you just put me through, I see nothing wrong with me killing you!"

She was holding the scalpel at his throat. "Now, Sally, don't overreact--"

"DON'T OVERREACT!?" she screamed. "You just held me at gunpoint a second ago! Threatened my life! Threatened my sanity! And you say 'don't over-fucking-react!?'"

"Sally! Get a grip!" Heero grabbed both her wrists in one swift move. The scalpel fell to the floor.

Sally was sweating hard, but she wasn't crying. She glared at him angrily through the helmet. "I suppose you're going to kill me now."

"It never even crossed my mind," he said softly, quietly. Too softly.

She stared into the dark visor. He let go of her hands.

The young doctor reached out with shaking fingers and gently lifted the helmet off the man's head, revealing expressive violet eyes and a long chestnut braid that tumbled over his shoulder as she pulled the helmet away.

"Masaka...Duo..."

"I'm so sorry, doc," he apologized hurriedly. "I didn't want you to freak until you finished the surgery. I just kind of let you think I was Heero."

"Duo...that's impossible...how can you be there--" she looked at the body on the couch and then back at the braided American. "--and here? How can you be here at all?"

Duo looked hard at Sally. "Sally, we saw each other just the other day. I explained what was going on."

Sally shook her head. "Quatre called last night, looking for Heero. They told me you were dead and Heero was suicidal...that you had been forced to go on. I never imagined-"

"It takes more than that to kill Death," Duo said proudly, extending a hand to help Sally to her feet. She accepted gratefully.

"Why did I figure you'd say that?"

Duo walked over to inspect his body. "God...I'm in bad shape..."

"What do you plan on doing with it?"

He pressed a finger to his lips. "You'll see. Either that, or this is good-bye for good." He pressed a hand against the cold forehead. "Could you get some blankets, please, Sally?"

"Sure." She got several from the hallway closet.

Duo nodded gratefully at her, than tossed her a mock salute. "See you around, Doc. Thanks."

"What?" Sally stuttered. But Duo was already gone, vanished before her eyes. She ran over to the spot where he had stood.

The body moved.

Sally jumped in surprise. It--the thing on the couch--had let out a slight moan. It was shivering violently.

"Oh my God. That's what he was doing."

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Heero wandered throughout the dark house, searching for someone, anyone.

Had the rescue at the cliff all been a dream?

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

Sally frantically heaped blankets on Duo's body, pausing only long enough to check for vital signs.

It was breathing.

Its heart was beating.

It was moving.

'It,' cracked open one glittering indigo eye. "Oi, Sally. Dammit, I'm freezing."

"I can't believe you just did that..." Sally added the last blanket to the pile and Duo let out a small gasp. "Holy shit...it hurts..."

"Brain surgery, Duo. And a rush job at that." Sally sat in a chair beside her friend.

Duo coughed. "Sorry 'bout that..."

"Fine, fine. God...I can't believe this...there's no way this was possible...how did you do it?"

Duo smiled in triumph. "I can possess people whenever I want...I just possessed myself and made everything start working again. I don't even know if I can come back out again, it feels like there are weights around my legs."

"Those are blankets, my friend."

"I didn't mean literally." Duo shot her a grin. "I guess this is where I belong, where I'm supposed to be. Before, I had nowhere to go...but now that this body is alive, it's kind of anchoring me to it."

"This is a good thing, right?" Sally looked at him worriedly.

"All things considered, hell yes. It hopefully means that I won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

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Where were they?

Heero stumbled alone in the dark. "Duo...Quatre...anyone..."

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

"Rigor-freaking-mortis." Duo spat in frustration. "Gaah! Circulate, dammit!"

"Give it some time, Duo." Sally laughed gently. "It's a really big shock. You've had major surgery, and restarted your heart and breathing. Hell, you had brain damage before, for all I know you're self-healing the neurons or something. It's incredible."

"Buuut..." Duo whined. "I wanna go see Heero! I've gotta tell him that I'm not dead ya know."

"At least wait until you can stand up!" Sally insisted.

Duo stuck a hand out from under the blankets for her inspection.

She touched it gently. "It's warming up. Blood flow's going again."

"Gooooood..." Duo drawled. "Now for the legs..."

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He staggered out the door and to one of the motorbikes.

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

"Can you stand?"

"I'll try." Holding tightly to Sally's hand, Duo took a step. Pins and needles shot up his legs. "Shitshitshitshitshit..."

The door burst open and Wufei ran in "Onna! Are you here?"

He stopped dead. "Maxwell, you idiot! There you are!"

Quatre and Trowa were only a few steps behind.

"Duo!" Quatre seemed to nearly collapse with relief. "Thank Allah you're okay! When we couldn't find you, we went out looking, and you wouldn't believe what we saw at the cemetery!"

"Better than okay. And I'd believe it." Duo grinned and shot a grateful look at Sally. "Thanks to the doc here, Shinigami just came back to life."

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

Heero stood alone at the gates of the dark graveyard. Hadn't he been standing here at Duo's funeral such a short time ago?

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

"If you waste your life now I will thoroughly kill you." Sally warned, shaking a finger at him.

"Yeah, I know!" he laughed back, mounting the bike. "I'll see you guys later okay? I just have to clean up the mess I made."

"Sure." Quatre happily agreed. "See you in the morning!"

They parted ways.

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

He gently touched a dark petal to his fingertip.

Black roses. Duo would have loved them.

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

Duo stared at the headstone for a long time.

--Duo Maxwell--

--A.C. 180--A.C. 198--

--Your smile will be missed, Shinigami.--

It was simple. He suspected Heero or Wufei had been the source of the phrase; Quatre would have put something more poetic in. Duo gazed at the black marble stone.

A branch snapped behind him and Duo looked up. A tall figure in black stood over him, eyes fixed on the tombstone, unruly brown hair hanging in his eyes. He stared, looking lost, at the empty grave. "He's gone."

Duo got to his feet and took the other pilots hand, pressing it over Heero's heart. "Not gone...he's right here."

"Cliché." Heero couldn't see past the black visor on his helmet, trying to discern who was inside.

"And right here." Duo moved the hand to his body and pressed it to his heart.

Time seemed to stop. Heero reached hesitatingly for the helmet and lifted it carefully from Duo's head.

"It wasn't a dream..." Heero said in relief.

"No." A grin appeared on Duo's face. "And I'm not leaving you again, not ever."

Heero looked questioningly at the empty coffin, the lonely grave. "But...your body..."

"Right before your eyes, koi." Duo embraced his lover. "Watch out for the stitches, I just had brain surgery."

Heero's eyes widened and he peered at the back of Duo's neck. "You mean--"

"I just took some good advice...and 'put two and two back together.' I got that second chance, Hee-chan. Sally took the tumour out; and I'm gonna be as good as new."

Heero's eyes had begun to well up with tears. "Oh, Duo..."

Duo leaned forward to kiss him. "No need to cry."

"I think we both got our second chance," Heero whispered around the kiss.

"Hai. But don't ever let me catch you on that cliff. Ever."

Heero nodded an affirmative.

"And it's a promise this time right?"

Well, well, well. Looks like we got what we wanted, hey?

<A little crude, but creative.>

Sometimes life's like that.

<You mean, sometimes death's like that.>

Morbid.

Duo shook off the offending thoughts and concentrated on kissing Heero and revelling in being alive.

"Hai, it's a promise!"

And damn--being alive felt good.

~Owari!

Shi-chan: Never thought it would end, did you? I don't know if I like the ending yet...may have to rewrite it....

Duo: That chapter was so friggin' long.

Shi-chan: I need sleep! It's 5 a.m.!

Duo: Baka yarou!

Shi-chan: Well...owari, and oyazume, or whatever, but I hope you enjoyed the fic, and good night!

Duo: Ja ne!