Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Mystery of DM ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

Chapter warning: discussed in this chapter is the nature of the afterlife. I do not claim to have any more knowledge on this subject then the next person; this is only for my fic! Some ideas were borrowed from Yami no Matsuei, which is also not owned by yours truly.

"yadda" speaking

`yadda' thoughts

/yadda/ typing

`yadda' mind speech

-

A deafening silence greeted her words. Head twisting around to look over his shoulder, Quatre watched his friends.

Wufei stood, stunned, his mouth hanging open as he experienced one shock too many in such a short time. A small part of his mind kept telling him that he should have expected something, after all she'd been able to get into his laptop's mainframe and his Gundam had a similar security system.

Trowa stared at Diana, his first reaction a widening of his eyes. After a few minutes his mouth twitched. Quatre relaxed as Trowa threw back his head and laughed. "Let me guess," he recovered quickly, still smiling, "you got bored."

Diana squirmed, still plucking at the end of her braid. "Well, sorta. I mean, I needed more info on where `Scythe was held and I wanted to see how much harder it would be to get into your Gundams mainframes versus your laptops. All I accessed was the sensors, I left all the other files alone and I even put some better security in place, you have the new passwords, they were in those info bundles I made. But you really needed improved security `cause if it was that easy for me to get in then the guys that are trying to get in would succeed in a few more weeks but I …"

"Diana," Quatre gently interrupted her, "you're babbling."

`Damn Di, and you say I can run at the mouth.'

Diana giggled. "Cool. Stereo."

Wufei centered himself, pushing his indignation to one side. "I should have expected something like that; Maxwell is in there after all."

Diana turned the chair around, facing the pilots. Her head was still bowed, hiding behind her bangs. "Actually, we're both Maxwell." She took a deep breath and continued. "And I'd like your permission to go back into them and link them all. That should give me the power needed to scan the building and find out more than just one floors layout."

Heero frowned slightly as he considered. "If it's a closed system then won't the signal be detected?"

She shook her head. "They're doing so many tests over there that the airways are teaming with signals. I think most of their people use remote systems to gather their data. My signal won't be located in that mess. Heck, they probably wouldn't even notice the Gundams moving until someone got stepped on."

Heero chuckled dryly. "I take it that is when you did your hacking." She nodded, gaze still fixed on the end of her hair. "Go ahead."

Whipping his head around, Wufei gave the Wing pilot a hard look. "You are willing to let her back into your Gundams system?" Heero nodded, lips twitching. Wufei turned his gaze on Diana, searching her face. "You swear to use only the sensors?" She nodded, momentarily meeting his gaze before dropping her eyes. Wufei let out a sigh, his body relaxing with the exhaled air. "Very well. You have my permission to access Nataku's sensors this one time." Trowa and Quatre quickly followed.

Diana met Wufei's eyes once more. "Thank you for not getting angry."

Wufei pulled out one of the chairs, gracefully dropping into it. "Getting angry would serve no purpose right now and we need the data those sensors can provide."

Diana turned back to the linked laptops, typing furiously. The sounds seemed to blend as keys were rapidly struck. "Sandrock linked. Alton linked. Heavyarms linked. Wing Zero linked. Extending sensors. Gentlemen we have contact."

Duo snickered. `Now who's been watching too many old movies?'

"You have. And you forced me to watch them with you." Diana concentrated, using her computer to search while Duo's had all the data dumped into it. She silently thanked him for clearing the needed memory. Her headset chimed, the secondary task complete. "Ex. Play back remaining audio record. End Ex." A click, then the file started to play. "Duo, could you please listen and find out if it's only that Hilde girl speaking?"

`Sure thing.' She felt him reach, taking control of that ear.

Trowa watched as Diana and Duo worked. "So that's how you managed to do so much."

"Hmmm?"

`What's he talking about Di? And yeah, it's only Hil's voice left.'

"You share that body but you can split functions amongst yourselves." Trowa looked over at Sally. "I've never heard of that happening."

Sally closed her notebook with a snap. "Neither have I. And what I've seen here does not match anything that's been written about multiple personalities." She sighed. "Well, except for one thing; one of the other personalities is of the opposite gender. But otherwise…" she shrugged as she watched Diana, puzzled. "If anything it seems closer to possession."

Diana stiffened, her hands pausing. "Shin?" Quatre backed away at her strangled whisper. Her eyes widened, hands now clutching the edge of the table, bracing herself against … something. "No Shin! Not now damnit! We have a mission!" Her hands clenched, nails biting into the wood leaving small gouges. "Ex. Disconnect. Level one lockdown! End Ex!" She screamed the commands just before she was slammed back in the chair, tipping it over backwards and dumping her body to the floor. She landed in a heap, limbs splayed out, a puppet with its strings cut.

Quatre stared at the body that had landed near him, for once uncertain what to do. Wufei jumped to his feet as Diana yelled, his chair flying back to slam into the wall. Both Trowa and Heero tensed, ready to act. They all waited, anxious. After a few minutes the body on the floor began to stir, gathering itself together before standing up. The head languidly rose, eyes closed, mouth curled in a smirk. Quatre's hand slowly rose to rub the area over his heart as he backed away. He whispered one word, shattering the strained silence. "Shinigami."

The smirk widened, eyes still closed. His head continued to rise until fully upright. Then the eyes opened, locking on Quatre, their violet depths swirling. Quatre backed up a step, the anger shown in those eyes was barely restrained. Shinigami glanced around the room, taking in everything. His eyes flashed as he gazed at Heero, anger growing at the sight. After a brief moment he continued his scan of the room, finishing with his gaze locked on Sally. Then he spoke.

"You will cease your line of speculation. Never mention it again to either Duo or Diana." He didn't say what would happen to her if she did. Sally shivered as the icy, nearly inhuman voice washed over her.

Quatre stared at Shinigami, the pieces snapping together. `That is Duo's body, yet it also hosts the soul of Diana and the spirit of Shinigami. But … how?' "Shinigami." Quatre mentally flinched as the strange gaze swung back in his direction. "We need to know what happened. If not, what is to stop us from figuring it out without you around?"

Shinigami's smirk grew to a cruel grin. "What makes you think I'm tied to this body?"

Quatre raised his chin, meeting Shin's gaze. "And what makes you think that we haven't already figured out what happened, if not how and why." A small, triumphant grin appeared and disappeared as Shinigami realized what Quatre alluded to. "Will you tell us how and why Diana's soul came to share Duo's body?"

His eyes narrowed as he considered the blonde's words, lips pressed together. "Neither Duo nor Diana is to learn of this. Anyone who cannot make that vow had best leave now." He grinned again when no one moved. "Then I accept your oaths." He raised his arms, hands stretched out, palms up. His eyes half closed as he began to whisper.

None of them recognized the language he used as Shinigami continued to chant. Then simultaneous expletives of pain sounded throughout the room as drops of blood were ripped from their bodies, one drop from all the major chakra points. Sally and the former pilots watched with varying degrees of fascination, horror and pain as the blood floated through the air to hover over Shinigami's hands, swirling in ever tighter spirals. The blood coalesced into a deep red stone, dropping into Shinigami's hand as he finished his chant. He held the stone up, examining it in the light for any flaws. Satisfied, he snapped his fingers, the stone vanishing.

"Break your oath and you die." The violet eyed being righted the overturned chair before sitting back down. His smirk stayed in place as he observed the five other people in the room. "Sit down. This will take a while." He leaned back, propping his feet up on the table, ankles crossed. Wufei retrieved his chair, placing it back as he sat down. Sally sat on his right, placing Wufei between herself and Shinigami. Quatre walked around to sit opposite of Sally, Heero sitting down at his right, across from Wufei. Trowa remained where he was, leaning against the wall, standing slightly behind Shinigami.

Shin glanced at the four sitting, ignoring Trowa. "First, forget everything you know, or think you know, about the afterlife, souls and spirits. There is no ultimate Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, or any other place where souls receive their reward." He paused. "There is no reward in death."

"Then what's …" Sally began.

Shin held up a hand, silencing her. "Just listen. I said there was no reward, not in death. Rather, a person's reward or punishment is given during their next life. Good karma begets a good life the next time around while bad karma, well …" He shrugged, still smirking. "That person can expect nearly everything in their life to go wrong in some way, shape or form." His smirk faded as he frowned. "There are exceptions."

He started to tap his fingers on the arm of the chair. "A prime example is Duo and Diana. Or Meilan." Shin flashed a smirk at Wufei. "She's still with you and is refusing her journey. Guess she wants to travel with you when you finally die. But Duo and Diana …" Shin shook his head. "For one thing they're twins. Or rather they were supposed to be twins. During their mother's pregnancy an … accident happened and Diana's body died. Her soul, however, did not move on. Even at that early stage they had come to rely on eachother. Duo's soul allowed Diana's to enter his body and they've been sharing ever since. I didn't meet them until after Duo had been born."

Shin rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There is a … government for lack of a better term, that tracks the wandering souls and starts them on the journey to either be reborn or made into agents. A soul can only become an agent if certain criteria have been met. I am one of those agents, a shinigami. Not the Shinigami. If I was you would all be dead now; no one living can be in his presence. I was sent to find out what had happened to Diana's soul since it had not appeared as … expected." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "Didn't notice it until the brother'd been born; sometimes I wonder what the people in records do," he muttered.

He cleared his throat before continuing. "As I said, I didn't meet Duo until after he had been born. Specifically a week after. By that time it was too late to separate their souls; if I had tried to take Diana's then Duo would have died." He scowled, glare unfocused, his eyes fixed on some distant point. "There has never been a case like this. After I told my … boss what had happened, he consulted Lord Thanatos. The Lord decided to allow the two souls to continue to share this body, with me watching to make sure Duo lived out his full life. Which has not been easy with two lifetimes worth of bad karma being revisited on one body. Never mind what happens when a shinigami stays in the living realm for too long." He shook his head. "And the poor kids wonder why." He stretched his arms before folding them behind his head. "So that is the how and why."

Quatre blinked as he processed the information. Or tried to anyways.

Heero leaned forward, palms flat on the table. "So you're telling us that all the times that Duo has escaped being killed, you were the one saving him." Shin nodded, hands still clasped behind his head. "And just how do you know when Duo has lived his `full life'? Who are you to judge when it's time for him to die?"

Shin gave Heero a measured look. "I'm not the one who decides that. And when it is time to give up this post then I will be informed. Since that hasn't happened yet I'll keep preventing Duo's body from dieing."

Sally leaned forward, placing one arm on the table. "Why didn't you want them to know the truth?"

"I think I know," Trowa spoke up. All but Shin looked his way. "I'm sure that Duo and Diana have both done their own research on multiple personalities and realized that they just don't match. But how would they react if they learned that Diana was really dead and Duo had been holding her here? Or rather, that both of them refused to leave the other. Duo is already convinced that everyone around him will die soon, especially if he gets too close to them. For him to find out that even his twin sister had suffered the same fate before they had even been born …" Trowa shook his head. "That would destroy him."

"And now you understand why none of this can be mentioned." Shin cocked his head to one side, listening. "Ah, Duo is beginning to wake up. No other questions? Good." He didn't wait for anyone to speak up. "Then until we meet again." Shin grinned, his body relaxing as his eyes closed.

A few seconds later the eyes opened back up, their natural cobalt color restored. Duo blinked as he looked around, then groaned. "He did it again. Damnit Shin! Stop fucking taking over like that!" Duo paused, listening to the reply. "Whatever. I don't suppose any of you will tell me what was so important?" He looked to each of them, hopeful, craning his head back to catch Trowa's eyes. He sighed at the determined looks in their eyes. "Didn't think so." He gazed moodily at the linked laptops. "And I can't do anything with those."

Heero tapped the table near the laptops. "You don't know what her codes are?"

"For a level one lockdown, no way. She's probable got a voice recognition as one of the many security layers. And I have no idea how integrated she made the two laptops. Otherwise I'd just disconnect them and use my codes to get into mine." Duo flopped back in the chair, crossing his arms. "You could at least wake her up, Shin, since you were the one to put her to sleep."

"If he can't wake her up, how long will it take her to waken on her own?" Quatre looked at the tabletop, brow lightly creased, eyes flitting back and forth as plans formed.

"Anywhere from half an hour to a full day. She really doesn't react well to Shin taking over like that." Duo sighed as he sat back up. "Sorry guys. I know she was dumping all the data into mine but …" His voice trailed off as his eyes unfocused. A grin split his face. "Well, good morning sleepyhead!"

`Shut up Duo. I really don't want to hear it. Disconnect your laptop and use your codes. It'll be fine. Wake me back up when there's a plan.' Diana curled up in their shared psyche, falling into a natural slumber.

Duo rapidly blinked. "And there she goes again." He shrugged. "Ah well." Duo disconnected his computer, starting it the moment it was freed. He hummed as he worked, unlocking his system. "So what's the basic plan, Q?" Duo asked as he called up the data.

"We'll be splitting into two teams. Trowa, Wufei, and myself in one, you and Heero in the other. Was Diana able to get the floor plans?"

Duo grinned. "Yup, the whole thing, including the security grid. Hang on a sec, I'll show you." He pressed a button on the side of the table, a section of the top sliding open. Taking the cable used to link the two computers, Duo plugged his laptop into the table.

"Maxwell, just what are you doing?" Wufei tried to make sense of the braided boy's actions.

Duo's grin widened as he winked at Wufei. "Just watch. I've wanted to show this to you guys, and lady," he half bowed to Sally, "for a while now." Trowa calmly strode over to stand between Duo and Wufei.

"You built this table?" Trowa ran a hand along his section, his sensitive fingers not finding anything.

"Designed it," Duo corrected as he typed a command in. "The hardware part; Di made the software. And this, my fellow pilots, is where our dear companions are being held against their will." The table lit up.

"A holographic display?!" Wufei's jaw dropped.

Quatre grinned. "It's perfect." He leaned forward, forearms resting on the table as he studied the image, making small noises in the back of his throat.

"Deathscythe's cloaking system is along the same lines, isn't it?" Heero glanced at the grinning L2 boy.

"Yeah, this is sorta the, umm, prototype. Does it have what you need Quat?"

"Yes Duo, it does." Quatre stood up. "Alright, here's the plan."