Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Death ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 2 )

Death

Chapter 1: Falling

Warnings: Angst, death, violence, NCS (not main characters), angels, God bashing, eventual lemon, liberties with religion, the ten plagues, and Duo's episode zero.

Pairings: eventual 1x2, 3+4, 5+2, 5+13, unrequited R+1.

Rating: R

Summary: Duo calls himself Shinigami, but it is not just a name.

Notes: I wrote the teaser four years ago and still have no idea where this is going, so bear with me. I do not own `Uchuu', that belongs to Angela Aki, one of the best singers ever. I highly recommend her. Uchuu is sung in Japanese, but I have translated it for your reading pleasure. ^^ However, if there is anyone who speaks Japanese and knows this song and feels I have translated it wrong, please send me a better version for I do not speak Japanese, I just try my best. When translating this, I thought it would be appropriate for this fic as it sounds like the speaker is leading away a dead spirit and Duo is the God of Death. However, I know that this was not Angela's intention, I just feel that it could be interpreted as such.

 

AC 188

//Yesterday afternoon I met a girl
in the hospital lobby
“I'm calling out my name to heavens”
she says as stardust appears in the sky
Pulling up my skirt, I sit down next to he

“Why are you crying?” I ask.
Her tears words become words as she replies,
“Because a lost loved one can never return.”

“Come, follow me” I say, going outside
to watch the change of the seasons
as five moons hangs in the sky
But she wasn't behind me like I expected
so I give her a hug as if nothing happened

The girl smiles when she sees
the smiling rocks at our feet.
“Little girl, do you believe that is where it all ends?”

You and me, we can go anywhere
because we exist together
Heaven, oh heaven, oh heaven
You and me, our consciousness
are always bound to each other
Heaven, oh heaven, oh heaven

As for her last words, they were
“Eternity is now”//

 

The lone figure walked through the masses of bodies. The bodies were charred, pus leaking from the black and red wounds. Faces were disfigured as flesh had been blown away to reveal blue-black veins, raw muscles and shocking white of bone. Eyes, what eyes were left in the rotting sockets, were wide in surprise, death swift, yet their light still lingered. The gore strewn about the dusted fields of wreckage, glass strewn about melted and cracked stone and concrete, caused no expression of grief on the figures face. He had seen many sites like this in the past years. War always made ripe genocide and mass trauma, and it was his job to collect. Like a seasoned mortician who breaks open the chest cavities of corpses with not so much as a grimace, he moved from body to body. He sunk a pale hand into the mess that used to be a living person and drew out long strings of bright, blue, glowing light. It was only as the light absorbed into him that he shuddered. Past emotions, thoughts, and memories came into him with that light as he saw the person's life before him, permanently etched into his head. He stood, shaking a little. He went from body to body, hundreds of them, repeating this process without a word. His shaking increased with each burst of light into him, but still he finished his work. A few feet away, a single, large crow sat, perched on a outreached hand, arms ascending upwards in rigor mortis, its beady eyes watching in cold silence. Dust moved in great arcs around the boy's long, chestnut hair, twisted into a braid, but did not settle on him, his pale skin not marred by a single thing, as though he were not even there. His violet eyes were dark with pain and pity, though they held no other emotion, besides weary, like an old worker, waiting for retirement that would never come. He wore a long, black cloak, the white feathers of his large, outstretched wings did not move at all as a harsh wind moved through the field of the dead. He finally reached the last of the bodies, young woman with large shards of prettily colored glass embedded into her breast, chest, and legs. One sharp piece of gold and blue glass stuck out from her right, staring blue eyed, dull in death. Her once bright gold hair was red with blood, fanned out underneath her. Her torn, charred hand clutched a gleaming gold cross. He reaped her, the shinning light entering his chest. He cried out as her soul became one with his, tears falling onto pale cheeks. He ran thin fingertips along her arm, torn apart by the exploding glass of the church's windows. He pried the cross from her burnt fingers, a couple of them breaking off and falling onto the dust-covered ground like hard clay. He put the cross around his neck, the gold settling on his skin, as cold as the metal itself. As the dust, carried by the wind settled, both he and the crow disappeared.

 

*****

Duo kneeled before a figure wrapped in pure white cloth who sat on a large throne of gold in a great hall, the walls decorated in complex patterns of all colors. He presented the figure with a glowing, blue ball of light which he held in his hand.

“My mission is complete, my lord. 245 souls,” God, his long black hair iridescent like grackles feathers and his eyes as gold as the thrown he sat on, took the light from Duo.

“Good work as usual, Shinigami,” though he smiled at his angel, his eyes held no love for his loyal servant. Like a master looking upon a slave, he expected no less from Duo than perfection, for failure would only be dealt with in pain and death. “As a reward, I have another assignment for you. It is much smaller than the last. A family of three has been killed, a mother, father, and daughter. You will deal with this in the usual fashion, quickly, and then return to me.”

“I understand, my lord.”

 

*****

 

Duo left the great hall with a heavy heart. Angels were not supposed to feel this way. They were servants of God. They were only supposed to do His will. And yet, he felt this horrible pain inside of him, a deep loneliness, a longing for sleep and companionship, but mostly for sleep. How long had it been since he had been the God of Death? Centuries? Millenniums? Time in heaven was a nonexistent thing. Like all angels, Duo had no concept of his life as a human, his memory being wiped as soon as he ascended. He only remembered an incredible pain as his wings grew from him, followed by emptiness as his human emotions were ripped from him. He was given his name, Shinigami, and sent to work, never to sleep, never to rest. As Shinigami, he was given one companion, Lucifer, a creation of God, to watch over him. Or rather, to make sure he did his job. Lucifer's true purpose was to report to God about his progress, but in truth, Lucifer seemed to hate God, though Duo did not know why. It was Lucifer who kept the secret of Duo's name. From the killing of the first born of Egypt, to the Maxwell Church Massacre, Duo had served God obediently. In all of his time, he had reaped souls, unseen, unknown, until two little boys. God may have been omnipotent, but he was not omniscient, so he had not known of them. The first had been a seven-year old boy named Maemi(1). His family had been the first victims of a plague on L2. He had already taken his mother and father's souls when he reached the boy's bedroom. Maemi was beautiful with typical messy, but clean, chocolate brown hair, and the most intense, deep blue eyes Duo had ever seen. Maemi was not quite dead yet, so Duo had to wait. He was sick with fever, his pupils dilated and his pale body wracked with seizures. This happened sometimes with people who were sick. They were on the brink of death, but their souls were still too connected with their bodies for him to take them. If he did, the soul he reaped would not be intact and thus, unable for them to join the afterlife. The body would still be alive, but without memory or emotion. It would have animalistic urges, but no sense of living. It would be what humans called a `zombie'. As for the soul, it would be permanently lost in between life and death. So, he had to wait for the body to die before taking the child's soul. He was used to it, but it still disturbed him to watch someone die. Duo was an aberration. He knew that if anyone besides Luc knew of it, he would be killed. Death for an angel was different than death for a living creature. There would be no afterlife, only nothingness. A fallen angel would be stripped of its wings, branded with the mark of the fallen, its eyes gouged out and put on display for fifty lifetimes before being executed. Duo was different from other angels. He was the only Shinigami. This was not abnormal, there was only one angel of death every time. The last one had fled to hell to flee God and Duo had taken his place. No, what was abnormal was that Duo felt. No angel had human emotions, they were immediately stripped upon becoming angels. But, after five missions, Duo's emotions had returned to him little by little. He became somewhat used to his job, but still these feelings remained. After all of this time of being the angel of death, feelings of loneliness and depression plagued him. He was weary and yearned for death. Beyond that, he was a threat to God as a feeling angel. While he served Him, he still had the feelings to know that such servitude was wrong. He hated being a slave, further more of being death. With Luc as his only companion, he yearned for others. So, when he saw Maemi's eyes, a beautiful blue, filled with such horrible pain, he felt things no angel should feel: sympathy, guilt, and worst of all, hesitation. Then, something happened that would haunt Duo for the rest of his eternal life, Maemi looked right at him. This was not too strange, many had looked upon him and saw an empty space. But when this child's eyes locked on his, Duo knew that this boy was not staring into nothingness, but looking at him.

“Kirei…”, the boy murmured in a hoarse, week voice, his hand outstretched towards Duo. Against his better judgment, Duo took his smaller hand is his. In shock, their hands connected. This could not be possible! This boy was not dead, thus he could not touch him! As long as Duo was connected with heaven, no living being could see or touch him, yet this boy had. Further more, he felt something, like something locking into place. A connection. As an ethereal being, Duo felt the swirls of fate around him. Fate was liquid. It could bend and stretch when decisions were made, but he felt no change in Fate's stream. Was this supposed to happen, then? A strange warmth blossomed in Duo's heart, it was beautiful. It felt so right, he though he was dying.

“What… is your… name?” the boy managed, his words hesitant not because of his health, but because English was clearly not his first language. Though, that mattered little to Duo as he could understand all languages, even that of the plants and animals. The boy's accent was thick, but understandable.

“Shinigami,” Duo replied. Maemi smiled.

“Strange name, for one like you. Have you come to take me?” Duo nodded, tears in his eyes.

“Why you cry? Are you lonely?” Duo nodded, tears falling. “That bad. One so pretty shouldn't cry. Don't you have one you love?” Duo shook his head.

“I'm alone. I have no one.” Tears sprung from Maemi's eyes. Duo felt that warmth increase. That this child was crying for him, it touched him deep inside.

“I alone as well. Momma and Dadda are dead. Can we be together? You need someone to talk to, I like you. Your eyes are honest.” Duo sat next to him, still holding his hand.

“Are you afraid, Maemi?” Maemi shook his head.

“I was, but you came. I not afraid anymore. If I die, will you stay with me?” Duo shook his head.

“No, you won't die,” Duo leaned forward and pressed his lips against Maemi's, stealing away his breath. Something black and wispy, like smoke that was alive, came from the child's mouth into Duo's. Duo choked on it, then swallowed. Duo felt the boy's moving soul settle back fully into his body and the color returned to him. Duo helped him stand.

“You can't stay here, you'll die.”

“Where are you taking me?” Maemi asked.

“To someone who will care for you, protect you.”

“I don't want to! I want to stay with you.” Duo simply pushed back his unruly bangs and kissed him on his forehead, putting him to sleep.

“I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…”

Duo left the boy near a campsite on Earth where an assassin slept. Maemi slept peacefully. Duo knew that the assassin would soon awake and find him. He only hoped that he would love the boy as he did.

 

*****

 

Duo still missed the boy. He thought for sure that he would never meet another like him, but he did. And yet, he still did not feel the way he did with Maemi. The second boy was named Solo and Duo did not save him like he did Maemi. Much like Maemi, Solo had been sick and Duo had had to wait for him to die. Also like Maemi, Solo had talked to him and felt sorry for him. Solo had been a street kid and believed that everyone needed a name and a friend. He promised Duo that, even when he died, he would find a way to stay with him and be his friend. Because of this, he should call himself Duo. Duo was flattered, as well as a bit mystified that another human could see him, and took the only gift the poor orphan could give him. As always, Lucifer kept his secrets.

 

*****

 

“Are you ok?” Lucifer asked. Duo stared at him. Lucifer was in his ethereal form, a tall young boy with pale skin, long silky black hair, and eyes that were completely black with not a trace of color in them; crow's eyes, the only part of him that stayed the same no matter what form he took. Duo nodded.

“I'll be fine,” he fingered the gold cross. Lucifer hugged the smaller boy against him.

“That's a lie, you haven't been fine for a long time.” Duo shrugged.

“There's nothing I can do.” He walked toward the door, the portal to Earth. Luc's eerie eyes followed him.

“There's always a choice,” he murmured.

 

*****

 

Her name was Kathy. She was six, with blonde pigtails and green eyes. She had a rabbit named Mr. Muffy and wanted to be a teacher just like her mommy. Her mommy was dead, her throat slit and nipples sliced off, her body in the bathroom. Her father was a private nurse. His dick was floating in the toilet, his head was in the freezer and his body was on the couch in the living room. Duo immediately took them, their memories integrating into him. He saw how the man, his brown beard unkempt and his grey eyes wild, had broke into the house, killed Kathy's father, and raped and killed her mother. Kathy was still in her bedroom. She was naked, blood and semen running down her bruised legs. She was dying, but her body was still alive. Duo didn't know why, but this sparked pure dark anger in him and he made his choice. He shed his angelic form, severing the connection between himself and heaven.

`What are you doing?!' Lucifer's mindvoice ripped through his head.

“What's the good of being an angel if I can't save the people who deserve to be saved?!” Duo snapped, his body glowing with fury. He placed his fingers against Kathy's crushed throat. Her corporeal body fled from her and looked at him in shock.

“An angel…,” he touched her cheek.

“I can't save your parents, but I can save you,” he said, holding her hand. He led her away from the house, away from the colony to Earth, into a hospital.

“What are we doing here?” She asked. Duo smiled at her.

“You won't remember any of this. This is all I can do for you.” They were suddenly in a room. A woman lay on a hospital bed in labor, blood leaking out of her vagina, her stomach stretched. What the woman didn't know was that her baby was already dead. The girl's spirit body turned to light and Duo led her into the baby's soulless body, not yet dead.

`Are you sure about this?' Luc asked, landing on Duo's shoulder.

“Fuck God,” Duo growled, his wings slowly turning black as his connection to God had been severed and his body was turning into one of the fallen and he felt his human memories being returned to him along with his free will. He had been apart of a tribe living in America, years before the pyramids had been built. Their crops and animals had all died and their tribe was being plagued by a disease. His father had believed him to be cursed by a demon and had sacrificed him against their elder's will as his mother cried and screamed in anger…

Duo shook his head, clearing his head of those visions. That was not him anymore. Fuck, how long had he been around for?! No, he couldn't think of that, he still had one more thing to do before he disappeared forever into the human masses… he had to find a man with a brown beard and cold, grey eyes….

 

 

End Chapter 1

 

Maemi means honest one, a testament to Heero's live your life according to your emotions philosophy.