Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Digital Bath ❯ Chapter 9
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Vinyl-Koneko 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Sci-fi / Fantasy / Cyberpunk / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.03.2002 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.9K | Visits: 317 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Sci-fi / Fantasy / Cyberpunk / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.03.2002 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.9K | Visits: 317 | Status: Completed
+Title: Digital Bath - Part 10
+Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net
+Rating: R
+Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5xM, 13x11, 6x9, R+1, H+2
+Warnings: AU, yaoi, cyberpunk, possibly more lime in later parts
+Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing because if I did I'd get rich auctioning it off on eBay... LOL, just kidding. I'd keep them for myself to make videos and become the real Sabintha. ^_~
+Notes: //Thought//, *emphasis*, [flashback]. Some ideas may seem similar to "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, "The Matrix", and "Digimon", but I swear that isn't what I'm going for. "Digital Bath" is a song by The Deftones.
*~**~*
Duo was separating himself from me, and while this gave me plenty of time to work on the printer, it left me feeling lonelier than ever. Somewhere between existing in the system and living on Earth, my friends stopped being enough. I needed the contact that Duo provided. As much as I hated to say it, I had grown somewhat dependent to Duo.
I wasn't going to let him die.
The doctors called me out of class one day, demanding that I join them in the laboratory. I knew I was delegating authority with my little side project, but no one was going to tell the doctors about it. Everyone loved Duo and wanted to do anything they could to help.
I ran out of the schoolhouse, knowing well enough to hurry to the lab. The last thing I needed was the doctors onto me. I didn't know why they didn't want to try to help Duo, but I wanted to keep my plans a secret just in case they decided to be against it. When I reached the lab I stopped in the doorway, paralyzed. The doctors and nurses that now staffed the medical ward were pulling out the last of the citizens, leaving the system empty. Doctor J was the only person hovering around the server.
"Heero," his gravelly voice sent shivers down my spine. "We're terminating the LSOS as soon as possible."
"Why are you telling me this?" I glared, putting as much anger into my voice as I could.
"We need to find Duo and Dorothy. They both need to be scanned into the system if we want to shut it down as a whole."
"I thought you took Dorothy away. Her program malfunctioned; she shouldn't still be out."
J frowned. "Well, she managed to unfreeze herself and it now running rampant on Earth. I probably should have told you sooner. She's the one killing all the people who are having difficulty adapting." Mariemaia's face sprung to mind. "You need to find them both before we can proceed." J's frown turned into an irritated scowl. "And this needs to be done quickly, before more people die!"
I was torn. The printer wasn't complete yet. I wasn't positive if it would succeed in making Duo into the person he deserved to be, but while I tried to perfect my project, how many people would die because Dorothy went berserk?
[She nodded her head, still smiling at me. "My name is Mariemaia. What's yours?"
"Heero," I replied, frowning when she giggled.
"Your parents must have known you were supposed to be our hero, Mister Heero."]
Is this what they meant by complications? That I would have to choose between what my mind said and what my heart wanted? I swallowed hard, knowing what had to be done even though I loathed what it meant. I had to be the hero and save the people. I nodded, J smirking at my acceptance of his proposal.
"Good," he turned around, grabbing what looked like a PDA that he handed to me. "This has a neutralizing program installed on it. You activate the program when Duo and Dorothy are within five meters. It scans their codes, pulling their physical forms into the PDA to be moved to the system. They are rendered inanimate - unconscious, if you will - and won't know what hit them. It's painless, even for a program."
I was only partially paying attention to what he said. It didn't take a rocket scientist to activate a program. I had to hide all of my emotions; it would be more difficult for me otherwise. I didn't want to, but on some level I knew I needed to.
*~**~*
Finding Dorothy wasn't that difficult. She was in the park, watching people as they walked by on the paths, seeming to be listening to their conversations.
"I know you're here for me, Heero Yuy," she said, eyes moving to catch mine. "J is a fool; I'm interconnected with every computer at Earth. I heard every word he said."
"Then you know your actions won't be tolerated," I traced my thumb over the edge of the button on the PDA, not yet ready to activate the program. "You need to be terminated along with the system."
"Don't you want to know how I've been doing it?"
"Doing what?" I was on edge. I didn't know what kind of mind games Dorothy was trying to play.
"How I'm killing the people. Aren't you the slightest bit curious?" I didn't respond. She continued anyway, brushing her long hair behind her shoulder. "I'm networked with every computer on Earth right now, Heero. It's not their bodies that shut down; it's the machines that's keeping them alive. Even sitting here right now I could be killing every single individual in that hospital."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "Programming error, most likely. We're not all perfect, even though the doctors will refuse to take the blame for anything we do. Or maybe I'm just so damn sick of Duo being the favorite." Dorothy grinned wickedly. "I could kill him myself, but I would prefer to be terminated knowing that you had to kill your beloved." I felt like she had just stabbed me in the back. "It's ironic, actually. Duo *chose* you to kill him."
I pressed the button, activating the program. I was sick of listening to her talk. A red light shot out, scanning across, and then retracted just as quickly, sucking Dorothy into the PDA with it.
"It's time for me to go now, isn't it?" I spun on a heel, turning to see who was behind me. It was Duo, his blue-violet eyes wide and moist. Dorothy was right. It looks like I was destined to be killed by you."
"Duo," I blinked quickly, fighting away the tears that were threatening to gather. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head, chestnut braid snapping in the air behind him. "No, I should apologize. I should have told you before; it would have been easier that way."
"I doubt it could've been easier."
Duo smiled sadly. "You're probably right. No matter how accepting I was of my inevitable termination, I knew it would never fully hit me until the moment actually came. I'm actually a little glad it's you, Heero. I'll remember how much you cared for me right before I'm wiped out completely."
I slid the PDA in the pocket of my pants, reaching forward to cup Duo's face in both of my hands. I traced my thumb over the contours of his face before pulling his mouth towards mine, lips tentatively caressing. I was careful, deliberate. I wanted the moment to last forever. I could feel Duo's hands going to my hair, both of us trying to hold the other in place, trying to hide from what we knew was unavoidable. His lips parted under mine, and I proceeded to explore his mouth, committing the way he felt and tasted to memory. There was no way I could care for anybody else the way I cared for Duo. The recollections of the time we spent together would need to sustain me for the rest of my life.
The tragedy of the situation wasn't that I had to kill the boy I loved; it was that even after my own death would I still never see him again. Even if a heaven did exist, Duo would not be able to go there because he wasn't dying. He was deleting. No matter how human he seemed, Duo was still a program, and it was the fact that I would never see him ever again that made this all the more painful.
Duo moaned lightly, dragging my mind back to the present and away from the imminent future. I felt like a monster, having to kill a beauty such as this. Our mouths broke apart even though we still clung to each other. I could feel Duo's hands moving lower on my body, resting on my hips. I should have been paying better attention to what he was doing, but I didn't. Our heads were resting on each other's shoulders as I stroked his silky length of hair.
"I love you," he breathed into my hair, hand quickly moving for my pocket.
"Duo, no!" But it was too late. He had activated the program on himself, the red light shooting back out and pulling Duo into the PDA. My hands trembled as I looked at the screen. It read "Files Being Transferred". I collapsed to my knees, dropping the device in shock. I closed my eyes, willing away the tears, but the sound of Duo's voice whispering in my ear followed by him being torn away from Earth and into the PDA haunted my thoughts.
I stood slowly, and without any second thought, I started to run. I had no particular destination in mind. I just needed to get away from myself.
*~**~*
Minutes passed but it seemed like hours. I ended up back in the medical ward, down the hall from the room where Treize's niece lay. A nurse walked by and I grabbed her arm. "Excuse me? Where's the girl that used to be here? Mariemaia's cousin?"
"She was declared healthy a few minutes ago and just left. Why?"
I ran back downstairs and skidded to a halt outside, catching sight of Mariemaia as she walked away hand-in-hand with a blonde girl no older than ten. Both were smiling and laughing. Mariemaia caught my gaze, waving and running over.
"Mister Heero!" She smiled sweetly. "Did you save us? Leia and the others aren't sick anymore!"
I sat down on a bench, suddenly feeling a lot heavier. I nodded mutely, forcing myself to smile for the girl. She must have noticed that I was faking, though, because Mariemaia went across the street to the park, picking a marigold and handing it to me shyly. "It must hurt to be a hero." The wisdom in her voice did not bypass me.
"Thank you," I murmured back. She smiled, running back over to Leia so they could walk home together.
"Heero..." I looked up to see Quatre, his hand balled up in a fist over his heart. "I just heard. I'm so sorry."
"Is it done?"
Quatre nodded. "Yeah. Instructor H just announced that the LSOS is no longer. I thought you might need a friend."
I shook my head. "No, that's all right, Quatre. I'd rather be alone right now, if you don't mind."
My blond friend patted my knee supportively. "If you need anything..."
"You're here; I know."
Quatre turned away slowly, watching to see if I'd change my mind. When I didn't say anything further, he continued down the street, leaving me alone in front of the hospital.
*~**~*
End Part 10
+Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net
+Rating: R
+Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5xM, 13x11, 6x9, R+1, H+2
+Warnings: AU, yaoi, cyberpunk, possibly more lime in later parts
+Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing because if I did I'd get rich auctioning it off on eBay... LOL, just kidding. I'd keep them for myself to make videos and become the real Sabintha. ^_~
+Notes: //Thought//, *emphasis*, [flashback]. Some ideas may seem similar to "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, "The Matrix", and "Digimon", but I swear that isn't what I'm going for. "Digital Bath" is a song by The Deftones.
*~**~*
Duo was separating himself from me, and while this gave me plenty of time to work on the printer, it left me feeling lonelier than ever. Somewhere between existing in the system and living on Earth, my friends stopped being enough. I needed the contact that Duo provided. As much as I hated to say it, I had grown somewhat dependent to Duo.
I wasn't going to let him die.
The doctors called me out of class one day, demanding that I join them in the laboratory. I knew I was delegating authority with my little side project, but no one was going to tell the doctors about it. Everyone loved Duo and wanted to do anything they could to help.
I ran out of the schoolhouse, knowing well enough to hurry to the lab. The last thing I needed was the doctors onto me. I didn't know why they didn't want to try to help Duo, but I wanted to keep my plans a secret just in case they decided to be against it. When I reached the lab I stopped in the doorway, paralyzed. The doctors and nurses that now staffed the medical ward were pulling out the last of the citizens, leaving the system empty. Doctor J was the only person hovering around the server.
"Heero," his gravelly voice sent shivers down my spine. "We're terminating the LSOS as soon as possible."
"Why are you telling me this?" I glared, putting as much anger into my voice as I could.
"We need to find Duo and Dorothy. They both need to be scanned into the system if we want to shut it down as a whole."
"I thought you took Dorothy away. Her program malfunctioned; she shouldn't still be out."
J frowned. "Well, she managed to unfreeze herself and it now running rampant on Earth. I probably should have told you sooner. She's the one killing all the people who are having difficulty adapting." Mariemaia's face sprung to mind. "You need to find them both before we can proceed." J's frown turned into an irritated scowl. "And this needs to be done quickly, before more people die!"
I was torn. The printer wasn't complete yet. I wasn't positive if it would succeed in making Duo into the person he deserved to be, but while I tried to perfect my project, how many people would die because Dorothy went berserk?
[She nodded her head, still smiling at me. "My name is Mariemaia. What's yours?"
"Heero," I replied, frowning when she giggled.
"Your parents must have known you were supposed to be our hero, Mister Heero."]
Is this what they meant by complications? That I would have to choose between what my mind said and what my heart wanted? I swallowed hard, knowing what had to be done even though I loathed what it meant. I had to be the hero and save the people. I nodded, J smirking at my acceptance of his proposal.
"Good," he turned around, grabbing what looked like a PDA that he handed to me. "This has a neutralizing program installed on it. You activate the program when Duo and Dorothy are within five meters. It scans their codes, pulling their physical forms into the PDA to be moved to the system. They are rendered inanimate - unconscious, if you will - and won't know what hit them. It's painless, even for a program."
I was only partially paying attention to what he said. It didn't take a rocket scientist to activate a program. I had to hide all of my emotions; it would be more difficult for me otherwise. I didn't want to, but on some level I knew I needed to.
*~**~*
Finding Dorothy wasn't that difficult. She was in the park, watching people as they walked by on the paths, seeming to be listening to their conversations.
"I know you're here for me, Heero Yuy," she said, eyes moving to catch mine. "J is a fool; I'm interconnected with every computer at Earth. I heard every word he said."
"Then you know your actions won't be tolerated," I traced my thumb over the edge of the button on the PDA, not yet ready to activate the program. "You need to be terminated along with the system."
"Don't you want to know how I've been doing it?"
"Doing what?" I was on edge. I didn't know what kind of mind games Dorothy was trying to play.
"How I'm killing the people. Aren't you the slightest bit curious?" I didn't respond. She continued anyway, brushing her long hair behind her shoulder. "I'm networked with every computer on Earth right now, Heero. It's not their bodies that shut down; it's the machines that's keeping them alive. Even sitting here right now I could be killing every single individual in that hospital."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "Programming error, most likely. We're not all perfect, even though the doctors will refuse to take the blame for anything we do. Or maybe I'm just so damn sick of Duo being the favorite." Dorothy grinned wickedly. "I could kill him myself, but I would prefer to be terminated knowing that you had to kill your beloved." I felt like she had just stabbed me in the back. "It's ironic, actually. Duo *chose* you to kill him."
I pressed the button, activating the program. I was sick of listening to her talk. A red light shot out, scanning across, and then retracted just as quickly, sucking Dorothy into the PDA with it.
"It's time for me to go now, isn't it?" I spun on a heel, turning to see who was behind me. It was Duo, his blue-violet eyes wide and moist. Dorothy was right. It looks like I was destined to be killed by you."
"Duo," I blinked quickly, fighting away the tears that were threatening to gather. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head, chestnut braid snapping in the air behind him. "No, I should apologize. I should have told you before; it would have been easier that way."
"I doubt it could've been easier."
Duo smiled sadly. "You're probably right. No matter how accepting I was of my inevitable termination, I knew it would never fully hit me until the moment actually came. I'm actually a little glad it's you, Heero. I'll remember how much you cared for me right before I'm wiped out completely."
I slid the PDA in the pocket of my pants, reaching forward to cup Duo's face in both of my hands. I traced my thumb over the contours of his face before pulling his mouth towards mine, lips tentatively caressing. I was careful, deliberate. I wanted the moment to last forever. I could feel Duo's hands going to my hair, both of us trying to hold the other in place, trying to hide from what we knew was unavoidable. His lips parted under mine, and I proceeded to explore his mouth, committing the way he felt and tasted to memory. There was no way I could care for anybody else the way I cared for Duo. The recollections of the time we spent together would need to sustain me for the rest of my life.
The tragedy of the situation wasn't that I had to kill the boy I loved; it was that even after my own death would I still never see him again. Even if a heaven did exist, Duo would not be able to go there because he wasn't dying. He was deleting. No matter how human he seemed, Duo was still a program, and it was the fact that I would never see him ever again that made this all the more painful.
Duo moaned lightly, dragging my mind back to the present and away from the imminent future. I felt like a monster, having to kill a beauty such as this. Our mouths broke apart even though we still clung to each other. I could feel Duo's hands moving lower on my body, resting on my hips. I should have been paying better attention to what he was doing, but I didn't. Our heads were resting on each other's shoulders as I stroked his silky length of hair.
"I love you," he breathed into my hair, hand quickly moving for my pocket.
"Duo, no!" But it was too late. He had activated the program on himself, the red light shooting back out and pulling Duo into the PDA. My hands trembled as I looked at the screen. It read "Files Being Transferred". I collapsed to my knees, dropping the device in shock. I closed my eyes, willing away the tears, but the sound of Duo's voice whispering in my ear followed by him being torn away from Earth and into the PDA haunted my thoughts.
I stood slowly, and without any second thought, I started to run. I had no particular destination in mind. I just needed to get away from myself.
*~**~*
Minutes passed but it seemed like hours. I ended up back in the medical ward, down the hall from the room where Treize's niece lay. A nurse walked by and I grabbed her arm. "Excuse me? Where's the girl that used to be here? Mariemaia's cousin?"
"She was declared healthy a few minutes ago and just left. Why?"
I ran back downstairs and skidded to a halt outside, catching sight of Mariemaia as she walked away hand-in-hand with a blonde girl no older than ten. Both were smiling and laughing. Mariemaia caught my gaze, waving and running over.
"Mister Heero!" She smiled sweetly. "Did you save us? Leia and the others aren't sick anymore!"
I sat down on a bench, suddenly feeling a lot heavier. I nodded mutely, forcing myself to smile for the girl. She must have noticed that I was faking, though, because Mariemaia went across the street to the park, picking a marigold and handing it to me shyly. "It must hurt to be a hero." The wisdom in her voice did not bypass me.
"Thank you," I murmured back. She smiled, running back over to Leia so they could walk home together.
"Heero..." I looked up to see Quatre, his hand balled up in a fist over his heart. "I just heard. I'm so sorry."
"Is it done?"
Quatre nodded. "Yeah. Instructor H just announced that the LSOS is no longer. I thought you might need a friend."
I shook my head. "No, that's all right, Quatre. I'd rather be alone right now, if you don't mind."
My blond friend patted my knee supportively. "If you need anything..."
"You're here; I know."
Quatre turned away slowly, watching to see if I'd change my mind. When I didn't say anything further, he continued down the street, leaving me alone in front of the hospital.
*~**~*
End Part 10