Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The First ❯ Chapter 9

GW and its characters don't belong to me but to Sunrise/SOTSU Agency etc. etc.

Chapter 9 of The First and the finale! Okay, this contains some angst and the morbid gore this story has been containing.

Heero watched as Duo's body fell, only to be caught by a pair of slender arms before it hit the floor. The first thing he saw was a wooden stake stuck out between his shoulder blades, he then looked over at the face of the person who was holding him. "Lady?" She sank back down onto her knees in front of him, continuing to hold the limp body of her son. "You must go now Heero and find her. We are under attack and there is little time." Heero hesitated a moment trying to find the words. Lady's eyes flashed at him. "Just go!" Heero nodded and rose to his feet limping away.

Lady turned Duo's body upright in her arms and cradled him on her lap laying his head on her shoulder. His eyes fluttered opened and looked up at her seeing something he had never seen in his mother's eyes; tears. "It only took you a few hundred years to work up the courage to kill me. Looks like I'll be joining you sooner than later Hildie." His tone was sarcastic and delirious. He tried to laugh but only coughed up blood. Une pressed him closer to her body not fighting back the tears any longer. "The only time I have ever cried was on the day of your birth, and now, again, on the day of your death." Summoning up all of her courage she closed her eyes and with one swift motion she impaled the stake through him completely. Une cried out silently hearing him gasp and feeling his fingers grab onto her before his body fell, completely lucid.

She laid him gently on the floor and closed his eyes; she kissed him lightly on the lips. "I have always loved you my precious son and yet I have never been able to tell you, or really show you. This is the only gift of love I can think to give you now. May you find in one death the peace you could not find in this one my beloved child." Reaching beside her she picked up a small hatchet. "You will finally be free." With those words and one quick motion she brought down the hatchet severing Duo's head from his body.

Trowa pulled Quatre behind a stone column. The battle had already begun; a few bodies of humans and charred headless corpses of vampires lay scattered around. "How did they get here before us?" Trowa furrowed his brow. "There were two different hunting parties." "They're burning them." Quatre whispered in shock. "Yes." Trowa snarled. "The quickest and most effective means of killing those considered evil." He bowed his head. "I will not allow her to die alone again." Before Quatre could stop him Trowa flew from his side into the estate.

Heero stumbled in agony making his way through the flames and smoke screaming her name. Collapsing again on his knees he hid his face in his hands and began to weep. She was no doubt dead; he had failed her. Suddenly he felt a presence above him and a hand on his shoulders. He looked up his vision blurry from tears. "Relena?" She slowly knelt down beside him; her hands cupped his face wiping away his tears as her own salty drops streamed down her cheeks. "Heero." His hands rested on her shoulders. "Are you?" "Yes. I'm fine. Nothing happened." He slowly closed his eyes in relief, but he had also noticed that she had not been bitten; eternal death still had its cloak wrapped around her. If she had thought the same thing she did not show it. She simply removed his hands and helped him to his feet. "We have to get out of here." He squeezed her hand tight twirling her in his embrace, he held her to his chest as he emanated their bodies.

Quatre screamed Trowa's name for a final time coming to a halt in their room. The flames were growing and the smoke was increasing throughout the estate. The survivors, humans and vampires alike had already fled. Quatre's heart cried seeing Trowa in the corner of the room, knees to his chest holding the picture of Genevieve, her wedding ring he held to his lips. "Trowa. We have to get out of here!" "I'm not leaving." "But you'll die!" Quatre was on his knees begging. "She wouldn't want you to do this! I don't want you to do this!" "No. This time I will join her. Even if she is in heaven and I am in hell at least we will both be truly dead."

Quatre grasped Trowa's shoulders and shook him. "And what of me? What of our love? You will sacrifice us for a ghost?" Still Trowa was expressionless, his eyes and voice vacant of even the slightest emotion. "I only used you Quatre. I used you for my own selfish purposes. Don't you see now that soon you will be free of me? Free to chose, free to find someone who will truly love you." Quatre rested back on his knees sliding beside Trowa, he sat, resting his head on his shoulder. "But whoever that someone is will not be you. And I will not continue to live loving a ghost." He then simply sighed contently. "I love you Trowa and I will not allow you to die alone." Trowa felt his breathing growing heavy in sleep. He lowered his hand that held the ring to his lips and he placed Genevieve's picture down at his side. He held up Quatre's hand and slipped the ring on Quatre's pinkie finger, kissing the digit. "I do love you Quatre and I do understand." He reached out and took the picture in his grasp once again clenching it to his chest. His other arm encircled Quatre holding him just as tight, just as close, allowing the smog to fill his lungs and the fire to touch his skin he sank into eternal sleep as the smoke and flames engulfed them.

Lady Une walked solemnly through the halls, pieces of falling ash and timber scorched her body; still she did not flinch. She had found the burned bodies of Trowa and Quatre and at first impulse she would have saved them, yet knowing that they had died, as they had wanted to she merely sealed their wish and had beheaded them. She turned the corner and entered the main hall. She approached His headless, charred corpse as it rested on the elegant chair. Around his neck was a gold medallion on its crest was the etching of a winged demon. She curled her fingers around the talisman and sharply tugged downward. The gold chain snapped and she turned her palm upright. "I knew all of your secrets Trieze and you never knew. I know that this is the source of your power, your control, and now it will be mine." She twisted the remaining chain together and placed the amulet around her own neck. She seethed through her teeth; the face of the charm seemed to brand her skin just below the clavicle. She smiled and chuckled just a bit feeling an immense power begin to course through her body; a power she had never before felt. She walked toward the main doors without looking back.

Relena, Heero and a handful of other vampires, watched from a far away hill in silence the final collapse of Trieze's estate. Relena had searched the small group for any sign of her brother but had found none. She had been told by Milliard that he had last seen Trowa and her brother inside of the estate. Her tears fell softly and quietly; weakness was taking over her body. Heero felt a slight amount of added weight against him and strengthened his hold on Relena easing her to the ground, clutching her close to him. Daybreak was nearing and so was death for Relena Dorlian. Her eyes were half open as she sleepily looked up at Heero. "Never blame yourself Heero. Always remember it was my choice, and it was for our love." "Relena." Heero's voice cracked. "I can't live without you." Relena smiled up at him. "You will learn because you are strong." Her eyes closed and her grip loosened; Heero caught her hand before it lit on the ground. He held it to his lips and kissed the palm, drenching it with his tears, he whispered her name again. A familiar soft voice spoke into his ear.

"Give her to me." The voice was that of Lady Une's. "I thought only Trieze?" Une smiled warmly at Heero and smoothed the tear plastered bangs from his eyes. "Give her to me." Heero allowed Une to take Relena into her own arms. Une held her firmly supporting her fully. She titled back the slender neck and tilting her head forward she leaned into her. Her pointed canines slowly emerged. She quickly sank her fangs into the pale, supple flesh. Several seconds passed before Une unhooked herself from Relena. Heero watched in anticipation as well as fear, the only change in Relena's still body was that she had gotten paler; the only coloring left were two crimson red marks on her throat. Her eyes suddenly flashed open and she choked in a deep breath. She sprang forward into a sitting position; the first thing her eyes saw was Heero.

Heero's breath stopped in unbelievable awe at the sight of her. Releasing that breath he grabbed onto to her and pulled her to him, crying again, though his tears now were tears of joy. Lady Une arose almost mystically, the talisman around her neck almost glowing. Upon seeing the jewel the remaining vampires knelt in servitude. "Get up will you. Now is not the time. We must go to the mountain caves and rest there for the night. Tomorrow we will go and find a new home, a new beginning." The others all heeded her words and took off for the mountains; Heero and Relena remained. Une stopped them before they could speak. She answered Relena's pleading eyes. "Your brother died for the most noblest cause. Do not cry for him but be assured he is at peace." "But what you have done for us..." Heero began but was stopped once again by Une's words. "A mother will do anything for her children, will she not? Now go and hurry before the sun is upon us." Bowing slightly the remaining two fled.

Une herself was about to take off when she turned one last time where the elegant manor had stood, now only a pile of smoldering ashes. She stood tall in her elegant stance, the night breeze caressing her hair, her opalescent skin glowing under the light of the full moon. "I will guide them now Trieze. But I will guide them in a way you never could, with compassion. I will give them what I never could give my son, a mother's warmth. I will show them kindness, the kindness of love." And as mysteriously and calmly as she had appeared she faded away. THE END