Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wayward ❯ Wayward- Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Authors Notes: How's everyone doing? No heart attacks yet? Any nausea? Seeing spots? Then try our official Gundam Brand All Purpose Ill-Begone Medicinal Cream! Ha ha! Well, folks, after this chapter, there will be ONE MORE and then the epilogue. Thanks to Marika Webster who just can't seem to write her arc in order. Crikey, me arm! PWP… oh, there it is! Thanks to Girl-chama who is SO FUN to tease with well- placed, randomly dropped lines. ::grins wickedly:: Thanks to Rashaka-chan whose quest for enlightenment has taken her to the Alps, the Himalayas, the bottom of the Atlantic, and now... Mickey D's! Get me a double quarter with cheese and mustard only, ne chickadee? Thanks to Usa-chan. Why? Because I like her! M-I-C… okies, we won't go there. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks to Eternal SailorM-sama and to the havoc we two shall wreak when we become roomies! HAHAHA--::choke, cough:: Ew. Hairball.

Disclaimers: I don't own the Gundam Boys or their toys. But I do own Galer! He's mine; I made him up! And I own Sanyu to! HAHAHA! But don't think for a second that just because I'm writing this the way it is that I condone violence out in the real world. I don't. I'd prefer it if we could all just get along, dammit.

Wayward - Chapter Nine

Trowa packed his single black duffel bag into the small space in the back of their shared vehicle. He and Wufei had one bag each. Galer worked on hauling the last of his three suitcases out from the inn they'd stayed the night in.

He allowed his eyes to wander over the little village Galer insisted they stop at. A flock of early sheep wandered lazily over their way, stopping to munch on some of the flowers potted outside the inn door. The inn itself was little more than a cottage with spare rooms, and only three at that. One of them already booked, Wufei and Trowa shared a room while Galer had the privilege of keeping the last to himself.

The people nodded and greeted him, all calling him "Stranger" but acknowledging him nonetheless with their bright village smiles. The air chilled him, but they walked around with short sleeves and the manner of those grown in the constantly cool mountain temperatures. This place snuggled itself deeply into one of the small grooves of the range, tucked between two mountain peaks that rose only halfway to the height of their tallest brother. The atmosphere, saturated with early morning mist that would never quite evaporate, gave off a silent, contented aura even through the chatter of the inhabitants. So quaint, Trowa thought with the barest allowance of a smile, Quatre would love it.

Shut it out, lock it away, don't let grief and memories gain control. Shut it out, lock it away, don't let grief and memories gain control. Shut it out, lock it away . . .

Lowering his eyes from the scenery, Trowa repeated this silent mantra, a reminder that he could grieve after he dispatched with Duo. Barely noticed at his side, Galer huffed, puffed, and heaved his final suitcase into the back.

"That's the last of it," he breathed, mist curling up from his words. The doctor wore three layers of clothing but still shivered beneath all of that protection.

"Then let's get going," Wufei grunted, already climbing into the backseat. Despite what the other two may think, Trowa had noticed the way their Chinese companion stared out into his own memories, ones that were much happier than those Trowa obsessed over. No one could fail to notice the grin of Wufei's face the morning before, or the gentle glow from Sally. Especially when their happiness reflected that which he had lost.

Trowa took up his perch in the front seat while Galer walked around to claim his much prized spot as the driver. He shifted gears, looked behind him to make sure no errant villagers crossed his path, then slowly backed up to align the Jeep with the small dirt road.

"This road only goes so far," Galer said as he braked to point up to the tallest mountain, "About three fourths of the way. After that we'll have to walk." His face paled somewhat and Trowa wondered if the doctor remembered his three heavy suitcases.

"Walk is good," came from the backseat, "It makes a man stronger." A pause, then: "A woman as well."

After that shocking acquiescence, the three spent a good hour in silence, even Galer. Before, fueled by obvious fear and nervousness, the doctor chattered endlessly about several inconsequential people, places, and things. It seemed his terror finally overtook his need for speech.

"How do you know where this place is, anyway?" Wufei finally asked, breaking their long and quietly agreed on silence.

"Duo called me up here a few days ago, just before he had me plant the bomb for Hiiro." Trowa noticed his fingers tighten around the steering wheel, knuckles washing white. "He told me to come pick up Sanyu because he'd become bored with her. When I arrived, he said he'd changed his mind and sent me home without her." Any last remaining remnants of anger Trowa felt towards the doctor melted as he saw the tear that slid down the stubbled face. The tall one wondered, had Quatre been the one kidnapped, what would he have done?

Simple. Played the kidnappers game until he found an opportunity to turn the tables.

Exactly what Galer had done.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

He studied his prisoner carefully, knowing that a different approach must be taken for this boy than the others. Hiiro kept to himself, Duo thought, and he must be dealt with in a manner facilitating communication with such a stoic soul. Damn him, for the Prussian-eyed one remained, even two years later, the hardest person Duo had ever had to read, and even with his new abilities there was a steel mental wall between his immortal mind and that of the mortal Perfect Soldier. What type of person can block the mind of a god? Most of those walls he could most likely break if he prodded hard enough, but then Hiiro would be aware of his attention. However, there was one portion of the prisoner's mind so built up and protected, Duo knew it would take insistent mental pummeling to even begin to discover what hid in that corner of Hiiro's mind. Deep curiosity veiled his indignant anger at being kept out by a mere mortal.

"Have you had time to think about your rudeness?" he asked, stepping out from the shadows he inhabited, allowing Hiiro to notice his presence.

"Trowa is insane with grief and anger, Duo." Hiiro looked up, not a single spark of surprise flaring through his eyes as he caught Duo's gaze. The god noticed the rise in the other one's heart rate and body temperature, became confused by it, and dismissed the reaction into the back of his mind. "He's going to kill you,, if you don't run away now."

"Run away?" Shock coursed through his body, and Duo didn't know whether to laugh or scream in fury, "Run away?!? Why the hell should I run away? Why don't you understand?!?"

"I understand that something's happened to you. I understand that you are different . . . vastly more powerful . . . but this is Trowa we're talking about, and you killed Quatre. You killed the most good, most innocent of us all, the one Trowa loved. He will find a way to kill you."

Duo stared. Hiiro gazed on him with such a strange expression. Determination, anger, desperation . . . and what? Duo narrowed his eyes and rifled through the boy's mind, linking that other, unnamable thing to the blocked off room of Hiiro's mind. Without any warning, the urge to tell this boy everything washed over him and Duo found himself kneeling in front of the chair where Hiiro sat, head bowed, eyes following the young god's form.

"You want to know, don't you? You want to know what happened to me, and why I'm doing this. Alright. I'll tell you . . ."

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I couldn't take it anymore, I really couldn't. It was all so normal, so settled, so . . . stale. Hilde was nice enough, I guess, but she wanted more than friendship and I really just couldn't stand her constant hints anymore. She actually tried to seduce me. That's when I made my decision. I wanted to see the world anyway, and I saved up some money over the past few months. So that's what I did. I went around the world, Hiiro, and by the gods it's a wonderful place! It's so green and blue and other, unknown colors. The people who live there think they've named all of the colors of their planet but they haven't. Anyway, that's not my point.

I saw all of the most beautiful places. Rome, Ireland, Paris, Mount Fuji . . . yes I even went to Japan. Your distant motherland, even if your family probably hasn't lived on Earth in several generations. Japan is where this took place, this event that has the four- oh, sorry- the three of you so baffled.

One night I stood in the hotel balcony window. I didn't have much money left and knew my trip would have to come to an end soon, but I'd splurged on the fancy hotel room anyway. It was night, by the sea, with the moon shining happy beams on the water. Moon beams dance on the ocean at night, did you know that? It's a visual illusion caused by the waves unseen in the darkness, but it's ethereal even so. Makes a person wonder if maybe, just maybe, they'd been wrong their entire life and some sort of God does exist. Who else would think to make moon beams dance?

Down there, walking by the dancing sea, a man stopped suddenly and looked up. Right at me, straight into my eyes. Nighttime should have blocked my view of him, especially since it seemed to gather all about him as though he were a magnet for darkness. But I could see his face and everything about him so clearly. Black hair, hair that on a normal person would have blended perfectly into the surrounding shadows but remained separated from them by a shade or two. Dark eyes, so dark, fathomless but not malignant. I sensed that from the distance; this man had no intention of harming me or anyone. Also, there was a message in his gaze. A calling. That man stood on that beach on that night specifically for the purpose of finding and speaking with me. I could decline. I could stay where I was and pass up this chance. But if I passed it up, there would be no second opportunity. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I did know that I could never, ever pass up such an opening. Not while my soul lives for adventure.

So I went. I left that hotel balcony a mortal, and went down to the beach to meet my fate. That man . . . he told me so much about his long, long life. He wasted no time in letting me know who he was. The previous Shinigami did not mince words. However, the things he told me about himself were not only private, but far too much information to tell you here. As it was, dawn broke over the ocean, casting out the dancing moon beams before he made his offer.

This immortal man wanted to die. He couldn't, however, just die. That would leave the world without a God of Death. He needed a successor. Wandering about as he did, he'd heard about me and how I'd adopted his name as my own. He didn't even have to ask. I knew before he looked at me with those pleading dark eyes that he offered me what I'd been hoping for since the final end of the wars: a chance to break forever out of the stagnation of the same old life.

It isn't easy to kill a god. I can tell you that right now because I know from experience. Even if the weapon is made by a god specifically for that purpose, it takes quite a while for such a large and powerful life force to drain completely. I speared him with a sword, one that he called from mid air. Through his semi-immortal heart. Semi because the moment that blade entered his beating organ, the heart began to slowly die. To this day I don't know how he managed to stave off Time long enough to complete the entire death process; it's a power I have yet to learn. He did, however, and at long last the spark of immortality faded from his dark eyes, followed soon after by that dimmer light of life. Hiiro . . . you have no idea . . . the deaths of mortals are ugly, painful, and gruesome. The death of a god is something else entirely . . . the death of a god is the passing of perfection, that which has no business inhabiting the Earthly realm in the first place, into oblivion. The death of a god is . . . beautiful.

To be brief, I killed him and took his power.

And I almost instantly knew what had to be done.

But I think, in those last moments before Death passed into his own realm, that I saw a flicker of regret in those eyes . . .

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Duo paused, his eyes focusing again on Hiiro and the present instead of that long ago night and that beautiful god-death. To his bewilderment, the deity met a gaze not of stoney blue walls, but wide Prussians giving off a tangible feeling of fear. And that strange emotion Duo had yet to place. For a still and nearly perfect moment, they remained there in utter silence. What WAS that look, that expression?

"What has to be done?"

Duo blinked. "What?"

"What has to be done, Duo?" Hiiro repeated, almost impatiently. With a jolt Duo realized that there were no more walls around the boy's emotions. "What is it you knew had to be done when you became Shinigami?"

"Wars, Hiiro. Human beings die in wars, or if there are no battles between countries or colonies, they find ways to wage little wars on each other over clothes or race or religion. It's painful, Hiiro. Not just for them, but for me." His fingers squeezed into fists without his permission, tears springing to his indigo eyes. "When their souls pass through me on their way to the Other Realm, I feel it all. Every minute bit of suffering they ever experienced in their entire lives. But most of all I feel the pain of their deaths. I can't take it, and I don't want them to suffer anymore!" His chest heaved with the force of his words, the strength of his conviction. Humans shouldn't have to live in so much pain, he knew that. He knew it from his days as a young child on the streets, and from that night when he returned to his beloved church, his loved Sister Helen, and found both destroyed.

"What does this have to do with Aurora?"

"Don't you see?" Pride at his own ingenuity and his concern for humanity filled him. Once he explained it, Hiiro would understand! He had to, the plan was too perfect, too kind! "If they all sleep, then they can't hurt each other! There will never be anymore war or death of unnatural reasons! Everyone will die peacefully, of old age and natural causes, with no pain for them." His eyes pleaded with Hiiro to understand, he knew it, and it shamed him, but this boy claimed the position as one of Duo's best friends, though the god had abused those friends recently. But Hiiro merely continued to stare at him, no obvious change.

"Why Mariemaia?"

"Because," Duo gladly let this spill, hoping with every word that his friend would come to understand that he only did these things for a higher cause, "I needed to find out if Aurora is still active after all of the latent years. As a test subject, Mariemaia was perfect, used as a symbol by her own family for war. A child, yet used as a figurehead for one of the greatest atrocities human beings can create, an innocent forced to lead the corrupted. Isn't it only right that she be the first to find peace?"

"And Dorothy?"

"A gateway. Souls pass into my body to get to the Other Realm, but it isn't that easy. They get stuck there, build up, and I have to release them all in one burst. She's my gateway. His was different. My successor would have had a different one, if I weren't taking away the need for a successor." Duo bit his bottom lip, suddenly feeling for all the world like a child seeking approval from a parent who hoarded such things. Hiiro's eyes shimmered.

"You're insane."

Those words shattered the closeness sewn into the fabric of the room, tore it apart with a growling ferocity. Duo rose, kicked Hiiro hard in the stomach, and turned his back on the coughing boy.

Why?!? Why doesn't anyone ever understand?!?

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

"Here, you're going to need this. Trust me."

Trowa understood now why Galer shoved the sword into his hands shortly after they'd left the Jeep. Only he'd much prefer to have a gun right about now. Crouching as he was behind this tree, the sword wasn't going to do him any good. The banged one dared to lean to his left and peer around the thankfully thick trunk. Thirty feet away stood the entrance to Duo's mountain mansion; between that and them, Dorothy blocked their way. Dorothy in red-tinted battle armor. Dorothy who could throw fireballs.

"Damn, this isn't good."

Trowa just nodded at Wufei's voice drifting from behind the large boulder than had become the Chinese boy's refuge. As it was, Wufei suffered from a burn on his left shoulder, probably third degree. No doubt in any of their minds that she'd been aiming at his heart. None of them, not even Galer, had really expected such a greeting.

Galer . . .

"Where's the doctor?" Trowa muttered, knowing Wufei would hear.

"I don't know," came the muffled reply, "I haven't seen him in a . . . oh shit. HEY!" Wufei shot up, waving for Dorothy's attention, "EVIL EYEBROWS! OVER HERE!" Not knowing why except that Wufei had to have some reason, Trowa stood as well and moved from his hiding place just in time to see Galer collide with the blonde woman. No decision necessary, the tall one dashed forward, lowering his sword blade to her throat even as she shoved the doctor off of her. Her mouth scowled, but her eyes pleaded.

"You can't kill me," she growled up at him even as her eyes beckoned for him to try anyway, "He's made me a deity, he's given me power." But she didn't move, didn't lift a hand to blast him, didn't try to get away.

"Oh? So you think you're immortal, then?" Trowa flicked the blade over her cheek, satisfied with the trail of bright red blood that sprung from the wound, "You look pretty mortal to me." He couldn't help the derisive snort that escaped his nose, "Did you really think that bastard would share his immortality with you? And power? I'll bet your little fireballs are nothing compared to what he can do." He didn't really plan to do it. He really didn't want to do it. But as he spoke, his words substantiating her fears, and the mask fell away from her face completely, her eyes called to him even more strongly.

Kill me. Kill me. Oh God please, killmekillmekillmekillmekillmekillmekillme!!!

Closing his gaze against tears, Trowa ran the blade through her throat just to quiet the screaming of those eyes.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

"D-Duo," Hiiro coughed, still reeling from the kick, "Duo, I have to-" tell you, the sentence went unfinished.

"Shut up! Why should I listen to you, you won't listen to me! You don't understand a thing I'm talking about!" The boy paced back and forth across the dungeon-like room, braid swinging wildly each time he spun to pace back across his previous footsteps. "I guess you have to be a god to understand. I gave Dorothy power, I would have made her a god if I could have . . ." Duo paused, turned slightly away so Hiiro couldn't see his face. Then he shook his head and waved away whatever thoughts distracted him, "But I can't. I can only make another god by dying and passing on my power to another, I know that much."

"Duo . . ." Could he really say it? "Duo . . ." Could he? "Duo, I . . ."

"WHAT?!? What IS it! For Hell's sake just spit it out!"

"Aishiteru . . ."

Duo kept pacing for a moment, the impact of the word lost on him for a good few seconds. Slowly, ever so slowly, the beautiful braided one began to pause, glance towards Hiiro, then look forward again. Breath rushed into Hiiro's lungs and back out again, causing his chest to heave as he struggled to capture this air and make it useful. Dammit! Damn those frail emotional walls! Doctor J and his cohorts should have built stronger ones!

"You love Relena." The statement came from nowhere, taking him off guard. Hiiro glanced up at that name, the grief still stinging in his chest each time she was mentioned.

"Yes," Hiiro nearly sobbed the word out, remembering her face, bloodied from those evil nails, "I loved her. But she and I were . . . different. It never would have . . .worked." He coughed again, not because of his stomach. "Didn't you ever wonder why she stopped chasing me finally?"

"I thought she was busy." The god stated nastily.

"She and I spoke, and both agreed that our worlds were different, apart, and had to remain so for the sake of the United Earthsphere."

"When?"

"A year ago. When I woke up in her arms." Oh, the feel of those arms. He remembered it, and still ached for that feel again. But the more pressing urge came from watching Duo, those wonderful wavering eyes and that braid. Could it really be as soft as it looked? Now the pang to take this boy into his arms eclipsed the older ache. However, this urge was another he had never hoped to fullfill, so when Duo moved forward and removed his bonds, Hiiro's throat constricted as he stared on his long-time friend. Hardness invaded that smooth, pale plane, even as Duo lifted a hand to flick the stoic boy's bangs, almost indifferently. Those fingertips brushed his forehead and Hiiro gasped at the contact.

"There was a time, Hiiro," Duo began, a seriousness in his tone, "that I would have jumped to hear you say that."

Hiiro felt his eyes widen. For a moment his heart leaped so high at that admission that he forgot to take in the second meaning of those words.

"That time is gone." Duo's hand dropped, and Hiiro's heart followed. His head bowed, trying to keep in that hard lump lodged in his throat that threatened to spill out at any moment. Dammit. Damn it all, just damn everything. That's what he felt. Then he sensed Duo's hand at his cheek and looked up, into the stone face. In those eyes the god's intentions were written, and Hiiro knew he should stop it, but he couldn't bring himself to be deprived of one last comfort.

Duo's lips touched his, softly, in the most exquisite contact he'd ever known. Exquisitely brief, for in the next instant a coldness engulfed Duo, forcing him to back away, eyes shut tightly, hands on either side of his head. While Hiiro's lips tingled from that kiss, he watched as the object of his love and lust opened his mouth and eyes wide, horror and anguish falling over him.

"No . . . oh no . . . NO!!" Duo fell to his knees, rocking back and forth through his invisible pain. Though desire tried to propel Hiiro forward to quell that agony, common sense kept him rooted to the chair. A growl issued forth from the ball that was Duo, "He killed her . . . Trowa killed her."

And in that moment Hiiro understood fully why Duo would no longer jump hear his "Aishiteru". The tears flooding down the god's pale face said it all, as did the fury and agony shaking his thin frame at the knowledge of Dorothy's death. All hope died with her.

Duo vanished.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

"Oh my God," Galer moaned from behind him, "Oh my God, you killed her, just like that." Trowa dared a glance at the doctor, to see he man running his hand through his thick hair. Behind those glasses his eyes stared out in wide circles. "You just . . . oh my God."

"Shut up," Trowa growled, yanking the sword out from Dorothy's throat. He backed away to join his two companions, legs trembling beneath him. He wouldn't let them give out. Not yet. "There isn't time for this. We've got to find-"

"No we don't," Wufei said, nodding towards the body Trowa had just left. He turned just in time to see a cloud of darkness coalesce into the kneeling form of Duo Maxwell. Trowa watched as the boy, shaking and pale, reached a quivering hand out to stroke the blood-splattered face and close those empty eyes forever. Tears streaked his face, and Trowa recognized in him the agony of losing one loved more than creation.

"Now you know."

Duo's eyes, dark violet with pain and fury, flickered up to the tall one, a dismal scowl marring his expression.

"Now you know," Trowa repeated, voice low, "how it feels."

"Inside," the god barked, lifting Dorothy's limp form into his arms. His cloud formed again, wrapping himself and the dead girl within its veil, and then the two were gone. Before the three- one with a burned arm, one trembling in fear, and one on the verge of exploding- the mansion's doors swung open. Not slowly, as is seen in cliché horror movies. The two wooden doors burst open with an animal fury, banging against each other and the walls behind them. Less an invitation and more a demand.

Inside waited the young god and whatever Fate would bring.

End Chapter Nine.