Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Kiss ❯ One Last Kiss ( One-Shot )

One Last Kiss

I never realized that Heero had been serious when he said that he would eliminate us if he had to. I didn't realize it until we'd been caught and thrown in a cell. Our execution would be in an hour, if they took the time to extricate the information from us, which they hadn't done at that particular time. Maybe they'd just kill us and get it over with.

Heero couldn't eliminate us himself, like he'd said-his gun had been, naturally, taken and detained. He seemed pretty pissed about it, but really, there wasn't a damn thing he could do. Even the perfect soldier had his limits.

I was aching all over, bruised in hundreds of places, and I think I'd cracked a rib. And Heero was sitting across the cell from me, dark in dark eyes indiscernible from the bleak blackness that surrounded us. I struggled to sit up and failed. What was the point? We were going to die.

"Duo."

I looked over at him and tried to smile. "Hey, man. You doin' okay?"

"Your head is bleeding."

"I know. Can't do nothin' about it, though." I shrugged as best as I could and I heard the rough scrape of skin on cement and angled my head enough to see him crawling towards me.

"Let me see it," he commanded softly, and I complied, resting my head in his lap when he stopped moving and sat up straight. The effort nearly left me panting.

"It looks deep," he commented, and I nodded.

"I know. Like I said, nothing can be done. We're going to die."

My words rang harshly in the silence. He didn't push me away from him. "Duo, death is nothing to be afraid of."

"I am not afraid of death," I told him, moving so I could look up at him with my head still pillowed on his knee. "I have never been afraid of dying. It's the annihilation, the not being, that frightens me. Never to breathe again, never to speak, never to take a walk in the park, or talk on the phone, or wake up on a cold, snowy morning to go sledding…" My heart rate sped up and I couldn't stop the breaths from hitching within my chest. "Oh God…I'm going to die…I'm going to die…."

His hands, soft and strong, velvet stretched over steel, stroked my face and hair. "It's all right, Duo, it's all right…We'll be fine…Do you trust me?"

"Yes." And I did. More than anyone I knew, I trusted Heero Yuy, because he would not let me go alone. He wouldn't leave a soldier down, I was sure of it.

"We'll be fine. Something's waiting for us on the other side."

"No, Heero, you don't understand." I struggled to sit up and he helped me by easing an arm around my waist and hefting me at his side. I leaned into him a little, though I couldn't put my arms around him like I wanted to. My wrists were manacled. His were not. "There's nothing out there. I know it. There isn't a damn thing to look forward to once we die."

"How do you know that?"

I knew he was trying to get my mind off of the annihilation part, but it was all I could think about, like a terrifying mantra that ran circles around inside my head. I thought about many things in an instant-the mission gone wrong, Quatre, my Gundam, WuFei's stupid little smirk, the blue, blue sky, the colonies, how the moon looked from Earth, Sister Helen and Solo, cheese, dolphins. Strange things. Things that just didn't make sense to my fried mind. I couldn't comprehend it all, and I didn't try. It didn't seem worth the effort.

"I just know," I answered Heero, and he started up the soothing motions again across my battered braid.

"Duo, what is a miracle?"

"What?"

"What is a miracle?"

"A fluke."

"A fluke?"

"Yes, a fluke." I was a little annoyed. Suddenly Heero Yuy gains a personality? "Why?"

"I think it's an act of God."

Now that threw me off. Heero wasn't religious, at least as far as I could tell. "You believe in God?"

"I believe there is a greater being out there," he evaded carefully, voice low and soft. "I believe in reincarnation. Death does not frighten me, because I know that I will merely be reborn. Into what, only God knows, but I will never truly die as long as my soul lives on. And neither will you."

I didn't believe a word he said, but it was strangely comforting. I didn't tell him that I didn't believe him. Instead, I just sat there quietly, those wild thoughts scurrying around my head. I wanted to cry. I was terrified. I kept thinking that perhaps we would be saved…but no. I had that feeling. Heero and I were utterly alone, and we would die alone.

"Duo…"

"What?"

"It's almost time."

Panic, panic, panic. It rose up in my throat like bile and I almost choked. He soothed me once more, hands gentle. "Heero…God, Heero, I'm so afraid…"

"I know." He surprised me by closing his arms around me and holding me to him, whispering lies that I believed because I needed to believe in something, anything, to get me through the blind terror. I wanted to die in battle. And if I didn't have that choice, then old and wrinkled in my bed with my mate beside me. I never wanted to die like this! I couldn't, I just couldn't…The eternal darkness made me feel like a child, threatened by its immense vastness. I was completely petrified.

I didn't cry. I couldn't. But I clutched to Heero, my strength, my lifeline, my perfect soldier, and I let him hold me, and I whispered my secrets to him. I had to have someone know about my past, my life. I had to have someone else hold the knowledge of every evil thought I've had, everything I've ever done.

I told him I loved him. He said he knew.

We heard the click of soldier boots on the tile. I gasped and he quieted me with a soft kiss.

And suddenly…I wasn't afraid. I wasn't alone. I wouldn't die on the streets like Solo, my pseudo-brother, my best friend. I wouldn't suffer through hunger, famine or disease. I was going to die with Heero Yuy, and that would be enough.

It had to.

I held his hand tightly in mine as the door opened. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and I focused on the warmth of the palm in mine. It was my only link to sanity.

"Zero one, zero two?" the man asked. Heero nodded coldly. He was still warm in my hand.

"Come with me. Your execution will take place momentarily."

Heero stood and helped me to my feet, and we dropped hands, following the young, serious OZ soldier out of the room.

No more seeing mountaintops, no more riding in airplanes, no more stars…

We went down a winding stark white hallway. I was heading towards my death. My head was buzzing and I grew afraid again.

No more listening to rock music, no more sliding into cool sheets on a warm night, no more ocean breezes…

A thousand steps later, we were shown into a plain stainless steel room. There were air vents. I knew what would happen. My manacles were removed and the door was shut and locked, and I was left alone with Heero, my love. My love.

No more dark blue eyes, no more messy brown hair, no more soldier boy…

I fell to my knees and tried to stifle my dry sobs. Heero knelt in front of me and tilted my chin up. God, his eyes were an unholy shade of blue. I could've drowned in them, my preferred choice of death.

"Remember what I told you," he said.

The gas seeped in. It smelled sweet, like ripe blueberries. I began to cry.

"Remember," he insisted, cupping my face firmly in his callused hands. "I'll see you on the other side. Do you hear me? I will see you on the other side, Duo."

The tears slid down my cheeks and fell onto his thumbs. "Heero…I want a kiss. One last kiss. Please?"

He shook his head. "No. It will not be the last. I will see you on the other side."

"Please," I begged. I was feeling light-headed. He complied and pressed his lips to mine and I folded into him. He held me, stroking my hair.

"I'll see you on the other side…"

"Yes…you will….I love you."

owari