Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ❯ Part Thirty ( Chapter 30 )

Part Thirty

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Duo never felt so weak in his entire life. His whole body ached and he could not even open his eyes.

He moaned lightly and shifted a little, feeling jolted and taking in the harsh, persistent sound of...horse hooves on firm ground.

Shifting a little more, he realized he was lying next to someone and that he shouldn't try to move again for pain flooded his body.

"You awake?" came Quatre's gentle voice from above.

"Yes," Duo replied and winced at his own voice, so harsh, raw, and soft.

"You should rest."

"Where am I?"

"After...two nights ago...you fainted. Heero.... We fled the city while the inn burned. We're continuing to Yuotain," Quatre explained.

"Heero...?"

"He hasn't awoke."

"I'll be waiting for your wake...."

"Quatre...." Duo whispered. "I'm falling...."

~~~

Heero's eyes shot open.

It was dark.

He sat up quickly, taking in all of his surroundings.

He was not fully clothed. He was in a bed. An inn, most likely, at night. There was soft breathing next to him.

He turned and stared down upon Duo's face.

A smile curved on his lips.

Duo always looked like an angel when he slept.

"Ah, Duo.... You don't have to worry anymore.... All the tears you cried...I don't want you to cry them anymore...." he whispered, petting his cheek, stroking his bangs. "So beautiful, like a tear fallen from an angel in heaven.... The most precious diamond. Not something to bind to your finger, trapped in a silver cage, in a ring, but to wear around the neck, close to your heart, allowing it's influence, hanging free on a chain.... Not to own, but to see, hold, and cherish...."

Duo stirred and Heero backed away.

"Wha...?" he mumbled as he began to wake.

"I think we're in an inn," Heero spoke quietly as Duo opened his eyes.

"Heero!" he cried, wrapping his arm around his waist and burying his head in his stomach. "I thought you were dead!"

"No, no...." Heero whispered, smiling. "I'm pretty resilient."

"How long have we been out?"

"Days, I'm guessing."

"You hungry?"

Heero laughed. "Do you feel okay?"

Duo gave him a cheesy grin. "I'm asking for food, aren't I?"

"I meant physically," Heero returned, tickling him lightly. Duo laughed and hugged him tighter.

"I'm well enough to get dressed and make it down the stairs for a bite to eat!"

"Ah, so I thought! Come, I'll help you wash and dress."

Quickly they washed and dressed, in nothing too exquisite. They were both still tired, however both hungry, and would only stay to eat.

"Oh, damn it...." Duo suddenly cursed, as Heero turned in curiosity, buttoning his shirt.

"What is it?"

"I--I lost the necklace you gave to me," he mumbled foolishly, wringing his hands and twisting his dress in his fingers. "It must've gotten left behind when we fled.... Oh Heero, I'm so sorry! I never meant to lose it! I cherished it.... It--it was the only real thing of any kind of value I had.... I...I.... Please forgive me...."

Heero gave a small frown, but quickly dug through his bag, relieved to find the small paper package tied with twine he had managed to keep hidden from them all.

"No matter; do not worry. It wasn't your fault. They had to flee quickly; there was no concern for such things. But--" Heero turned to him, package held in his hands. Slowly he crossed the room and settled down beside him. "Here. I got you these back on the border of Autria.... I hoped that maybe you wouldn't react to negatively the second time...."

Duo quickly untied the thread and pushed back the paper and his eyes shimmered with tears.

Heero couldn't decide which was more beautiful, the jewels or Duo's eyes.

"Put them on for me," Duo whispered, trying to hold back his happiness from flooding out of his eyes as he dabbed at them gently.

Heero shifted and clasped the necklace around his elegant neck, snapping on the bracelet, sliding on the ring, and clinching the jeweled chain around his forehead.

"The ladies wear them in Autria as a sign of luck, fortune, and royalty," Heero explained softly, wishing only to grace those soft lips with a kiss, and knowing he would never have the strength. "Once they were a sign of witches, now they are a sign of strength and elegance...."

"Heero...." Duo whispered. "I-I don't know what to say.... You shouldn't be this kind to me...you shouldn't know that I adore such things.... That I this is the one of the only gifts I ever received, thirded only because of the necklace you gave me and the freedom you have given to me...."

Heero was blushing so hard he turned his face away.

"Don't think of it.... It was nothing.... At all...." he managed out before standing. "Come now, let's eat."

And so they made their way down the stairs and into the bar.

Immediately they sat down at Quatre and Trowa's table.

Quatre about died to see them awake.

"You two have finally awoken! How wonderful!" he cried, clutching Trowa's arm in excitement. "You must eat something!"

"That was the original plan," Duo giggled, tracing circles on the table with his finger.

"How long have we been out?" Heero asked, genuinely curious.

"Ah, Duo has been floating on consciousness since the second day. You...you've been dead to everything. It's been maybe thirteen or fourteen passes of the sun since that night...."

"Oh my...." Heero murmured. "Where are we now?"

"A town called Ju, a few days from the Yuotain border," Trowa spoke.

"Ah...."

A severing girl came and took their orders and Duo was utterly excited to find that they had fresh chicken just cooked to be served.

"Duo, I don't mean to upset you," Quatre started as she ran back to get their food, "but what happened to you that night?"

Duo was silent for a few long moments.

"Who was that woman?" he finally asked.

"The Keeper of the Second Gate, I know only that," Heero replied. "I don't know her name, but that she can alter visions...obviously."

"She called Trowa Reisun," Duo pointed out. "I suspect that has to do with the fact that she called you, Heero, Shukan?"

"Yes. Whoever this Reisun is must've been reincarnated as Trowa," Heero answered, looking over at Trowa.

They halted their conversation as the food was brought and a few minutes after so that Duo could stuff his face before he actually paused and tried to taste the food.

"Well, you see," Duo started up again after a few minutes of rapid eating. "I started having visions.... Very intense visions, of who I was when Trowa was Reisun. I...I was a man named Johné. I was Reisun's lover.... I...died. I do not know much more."

They took this in.

"How did you die?"

"I'm...not sure. You must understand, Johné was Reisun's lover and Reisun was with him as he died. All he could see was Reisun. I know I was bleeding severely. I know that Reisun was obsessed with studying books. I think I was too, but not to that extent. There were other people we knew, but I did not see any of them in these visions. Only Reisun. However Reisun and Johné were searching for an Earth Artist. Searching hard. When I died, I felt it all ended."

"Do you know anything about this, Heero?" Trowa asked as Duo finished and sipped some of his soup.

Heero shook his head. "I've never heard these names. Reisun, Johné.... Nothing about them."

Quatre sighed. "They sound awfully familiar.... I'd like to ask if Wufei knows."

"Speaking of the black haired bitch, where is he?" Duo growled.

Trowa nodded his head to the side. "Talking it up with a lady."

Duo glared at them in contempt as he saw him and a flirtatious maid chatting. She made him blush almost every other second.

"Whore is more like it...." Duo muttered.

"Really you should try to get along with him. We are bound to each other, after all," Quatre reminded him gently.

"Just cause I may be in a bed, doesn't mean I have to like it," Duo returned.

"As I know Wufei would say, if you have no choice about that bed, then you should hope it is a comfortable one," Trowa threw back nonchalantly.

"Well this one isn't," Duo retorted.

"I think that you could make it so," Trowa suggested.

'The only way I could make it so was for Heero to join me,' Duo thought and tried not to snicker, as he looked over at the other, who had finished his meal and was listening to the conversation with half an ear, the other to the music.

"Would you dance with me?" he asked of Duo suddenly, turning to stare him in the eye.

"Of course!" Duo replied as Heero took him by the hand and onto the floor, spinning him around as the song started.

"What do you think I should do about Wufei? He has insulted me and you both," Duo inquired, knowing Heero would give him the best advice.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Trowa and Quatre. You should at least be courteous. He is an ass, as you put it, and a bitch, but he has also had a harder time then the rest of us. I would give him his space, but be nice, or at least civil."

Duo grumbled at his reply, but knew that he was right.

"Fine. I shall do that then. I will not do it happily, but I will do it willingly. I just hope he doesn't make it exceedingly hard for me or else I should think he would fear for his life."

Heero barked a laugh, but reminded Duo that he could not kill him or else he would fear for his.

"True, the words you speak.... If I shall not kill him, I should hope he would then fear that his life would be a living hell."

Heero smiled. "And that it should if you desire it to be."

"Are you insinuating I'm a devil?" Duo asked with a evil smirk.

"All the time," Heero answered, pulling him off to the side as a slow song began.

"Heero?"

"Shh...." he murmured. "Just...let me think for a moment...."

Slowly Duo swayed to the music, curiosity overwhelming him. Heero was pensive always, yes, but never seemed so nervous. His arms had become so tense around his body, his movement ridged and harsh.

"Are you--?"

"Duo.... I have dreamed of this, and yet feared it so.... It has been my fantasy and yet has plagued my head in nightmares."

"What is so wonderfully awful th--"

Before he could finish, Heero had engulfed his mouth in his own, his lips dancing on Duo's, needing to feel he was really there.

And Duo melted in his arms. His legs became weak and he felt that he should fall at any instant, but for then he would lose contact with Heero and so he would stay standing 'til eternity, if Heero would hold him so long.

Heero moved away and stared down at the beauty his hands possessed. Duo's eyes were still closed, his mouth parted slightly, still longing for the taste.

Slowly they opened and he stared at Heero as though intoxicated.

"What was that--"

"Duo...." he whispered, his face ablaze with blush as he hugged Duo close to his chest, kissing his hair. "I fear I will die and have never told you this.... And the only thing worse than death, is the death of someone who has undeclared love trapped inside of them."

"Heero--"

"Shh, do not speak.... For I do not want fowl words right now.... I want to weave to you with words everything that is contained within my heart, but I fear that I cannot take on such a task...."

"Heero--"

"I am a weak man, Duo.... Foolish, stupid, weak.... I have become a subject to my own love and longing for you, and it blinded me. That is why it was made so easy for her to take me and use me. She disguised herself as you, the one thing I was sure to fall for, the one thing my heart could not deny...."

"Heero--"

"Shh, do not say a word, for this moment is what I want to cherish, no matter the outcome. Just to hold you in my arms and have your trust is to have a thousand suns.... Your eyes are the very likeness of the jewels on your neck and wrist and head.... Your face cannot be compared to a sunrise, for it is bleak and there would be no such injustice as to compare you to something so ugly.... I wake and you are there and it is all my happiness.... How should I even speak such simple words and try to tell you of your radiance? I am more foolish than I have thought, for all I really do is make folly everything you are with these stupid, plain words.

"What is in a word that it should be used to describe you? Nothing. Words are tedious and ordinary. Not even king's jewels can compare to the light and sparkle of your smile. Nor a thousand fields of flowers' bloom dare compete with you. If I were to have my way, you would be the sun, and so the moon, so that you could never set on me, for just when you seemed to leave the sky and leave my eyes, you would reappear in another form, just so much as intense as the last, if not more so, but then I could not hold you.

"And yet I make you cry.... As well I should, shouldn't I? How could one so hideous as me even speak of love for you? We are different as black and white, and I think we both realize this. I suppose we can never work out, for you are so much more grand than I and people would scorn upon me and claim you out of your mind.

"Oh please do not cry so. It's true your tears surpass the most perfect diamonds, but they are just as sharp and painful. I will leave you alone for the rest of my life and hide behind a mask so that you perfect eyes do not have to look upon my marred face, if it so pleases you. However I had to speak for fear of dying with my soul still trapped inside me, please forgive me that."

Duo sniffled as he clutched at Heero's clothing, hugging him as tight as physically possible for him.

"How can you say such beautiful things about me?"

"Because every word has been twisted so painfully, so lovingly into my mind every night as I fall asleep and every morning when I wake and every time my eyes chance upon yours and every time I think of you, which is every living second of every day and even in my sleep I have turned the words over and over in my mind for my dreams contain only you and only ever you. Forgive me...."

"How can you say such beautiful things and leave me without any to return beside the most dull and overused words of them all?"

"Nothing spoken from your lips should be dull and overused, no matter what the connotation," Heero replied softly.

"Even the words 'I love you'?"

Heero was stunned and for the first time in a long time was struck with the overwhelming need to cry.

"Especially not those words," he returned as his voice cracked, burying his head into Duo's neck and letting a few tears fall and slid down his bare shoulders.

"Then I will say them and hope they are not too dull.... I love you Heero, I love you so that my heart aches to see you without me in your arms...."

"Then I shall never let you go...."

~Til Then~