Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Mahasamahdi ❯ 2 ( Chapter 2 )

-Two-

I was sitting calmly in my Gundam, the lights flickering on a low setting to give me a better view of the screens and what was happening without. So far the convoy we were supposed to intercept had not shown and I could tell Wufei was getting itchy for a fight. It took all my self control to keep my mouth shut, maintain radio silence.

The funniest thing about being a gundam pilot is waiting. You spend your days waiting for a mission. When you get the mission you race out to where it has to take pace, and then wait for events to align. Then when you're done with a mission you wait for the right time to retreat. When you're home safe, you sit down and you wait for the next mission. You expect it to be a game of cat and mouse. It's not. More like a pride of sleeping lions.

Knowing this, it shouldn't come as any great surprise that when the convoy did arrive I was so bored my eyelids were drooping shut while my grip on the controls was tight enough to snap bone. Not a good combination.

The convoy came into sight and Wufei didn't wait for confirmation I had seen it, Nataku smashing into the lead troop of mobile dolls. I refused to be the one to break silence, slipping behind the convoy and switching on the scythe. Deathscytrhe rumble in appreciation as I drove us forward, plowing into the read guard.

It's hard work. Don't let anyone ever tell you different. Fighting in a war is cold, lonely and tiring. Each battle wears you down more, the old ocean banging against a rock trick. That's what its like in a battle too. You think you're getting somewhere, but when you dare to look past whatever you're fighting you see a hundred more ready to take its place. Today proved no different.

My arms were aching, my fingers bleeding from busted blisters. Sweat plastered my bangs to my forehead and my back ached from being thrown around in the pilot's seat. Deathscythe wasn't faring much better. That was when it hit me. It was like a revelation, right before the storm. A single clear moment of thought before I set back to work the thought slipping into the back of my mind.

There was no way out.

For some reason adversity only makes the human spirit stronger. Faced with the no escape option, I did what any trapped animal does. I decided to take them all down with me. Wufei, I noticed, seemed to have the same idea. At least, if the way he kept making those dolls butt heads was any indication of what he was thinking. Maybe he just liked the sound they made when they went boom. Heero likes that, and Wufei can be a lot like Heero.

I wished Heero was there. I always wished Heero was on missions with me? Why? I thought I told you already. Heero can't die. He's not touched by the curse, not affected by me. Heero is immune to death. Having that at your back is a great comfort. I guess I always figure if the worst comes I can just hide behind Heero and hold on. With Wufei I was never sure. Dying might just end p the `honourable thing to do.'

Knowing that, I only fought harder. No longer was the aim to take as many down with me as possible. Some small analogical part of my brain was arguing that if I died now I could not get revenge later. No revenge for Sister Helen and Father Maxwell. No revenge for Solo. No revenge for myself.

Not an option. I wielded the weapon of death, and I brought it upon those dolls with all the force of Lucifer. Hell, in my head I was the fallen archangel. Or perhaps his right hand man.

Everything went well. I killed the dolls. I stopped the convoy. I was ready to destroy the target. All I needed was Wufei.

Oz I must admit, for all that I hate and detest it, has incredible reflexes. Just went you think you have the upper hand they recover and turn around to bite you on the rear. This was to be no different. I was watching from the corner of my eye as I saw five mobile dolls engulfed in a massive gout of flame. No second guessing where that had come from. Because I was watching Wufei, checking to see that he was alright and holding his own, I missed the opening of the hanger door on the convoy's main ship.

The biggest fuck up of my short existence. Even I admit it.

When I finally turned back to see the carnage I had wrought I was faced not with the wreckage I had but moments ago left, but with a whole new line of mobile dolls, blasters ready. I reacted as any Gundam pilot would. I brought down my scythe and cut the damned things in half.

Crowing in triumph at my reflexes, which were apparently faster than a machine, the only warning I had was Wufei's dismayed shout.

Pitch.

*

What happened? At the time I had no idea. Suffice to say I had failed to notice the second line of mobile dolls aligned behind me. When I struck out, they opened fire. Talk about getting shot from behind!

When did I wake? About a minute later. My Gundam was most certainly landed, lying flat on its back.

My vision was blurred, as if everything was moving sluggishly, or me moving too fast. I could hear a rumbling thunder in my head, like a troop of horses playing hokey in my brain. I realised dazedly it was my heart. I looked at my hands but all I saw was blood. It was dripping from my fingertips, covering the controls. I couldn't grasp them. They were too slippery.

Looking at the screen I saw Nataku, battered but in working order, surrounded by the wreckage of what could only be the convoy's main ship. He was barking out some crazy nonsense about justice having being served, followed by a quick prayer in Chinese. His usual end of battle litany.

That struck me as strange. Was it over? I had no idea. My brain told me it couldn't be. I wasn't feeling anything. Usually there was pain from injuries after a battle. Usually he was tired, struggling to stay awake long enough to get back to the safe house.

There was that word again. Safe house. No such thing on heaven or earth, certainly not in hell. I grinned at my own stupid joke.

"Maxwell!" Wufei's cautious face appeared on the little screen. I watched it change, caution disappearing, replaced with fear. I wondered, stupidly, why he was so afraid of me. I didn't have long to wonder. Nataku was flying straight at me!

Fumbling at the controls, I brought the Scythe up to defend myself. At least, I thought I did. The arm of Deathscythe didn't move. Nataku stopped a breathe away, the hatch opening as Wufei leapt out and began banging on the hatch that led to Deathscythe's pilot. That would be me.

"Duo, open the damn hatch!" Wufei screamed, his panic muffled through the thick metal. I shuddered when I heard him. I couldn't understand why he was so afraid.

Struggling, I slammed my hand down on the little purple button and sighed as air rushed in, followed quickly by Wufei.

He seemed so hesitant to touch me. I couldn't understand why. When he moved, my body seemed to object, but I couldn't feel it. He laid his fingers on my throat. There were tears in his eyes.

"Hold on, Duo. Don't do this. Not now."

Don't do what? I had no clue what he was on about. I went to raise my hand to my head. It didn't obey. That struck me as strange so I looked down at it. It finally registered.

My blood. It's everywhere. I'm trying to scream, but I can't hear myself. I realise I can't talk. I can't move. And then Wufei's words make sense and I want to cry, but I can't. I cried my last tears years ago.

It's time to make a decision. I know it. Wufei can see it in my eyes. I can't stop looking at my hands. I don't know where the blood is coming from. I don't even remember being hit. I don't know what happened. But I know I'm dying.

Dying. Dying. Dying. The words repeats in my mind, over and over like a mantra. I keep staring at those hands. My hands. At least they were. My blood. Or it was. It's leaving me, leaving me alone just like everything else. Even my blood hates me. My blood is cursed.

Why was Heero immune to my blood? Heero…

Heero wasn't there. I was cold. I was lonely. I was dying.

No, I decided, stubbornly looking away from my hands and facing Wufei. I would not be a coward. I would choose. It would not take me. I would go of my own free will.

Dying. No, I'm already dead.