A/N: Just a little ditty from Duo's POV. Alternative Reality/Ending. Kinda strange.
Disclaimer:
NO!Dreams ~ by ChibiMercuryDeathScythe
It seemed like I'd been fighting with Deathscythe forever when it had only been a few years…maybe two. I wasn't sure by then either. It also seemed like I'd lost all track of time. It didn't matter though. I was, at fifteen years of age, in a war with a Mobile Suit made out of Gundanium. A child who called himself Death playing an adult's game. How demented was that?
To top it all off, I thought I was alone, doing this on my own. Then I find out there's four more just like me! Well, not like me completely…sure, we had the same style mobile suits possibly built by the same person or group of people, but as far as being just like me…yeah, right, not by a long shot.
Well, of course there's me, I'm always going about with a smile on my face, cracking jokes and being just a regular smart-ass. Hell, can you blame me? I may have been in a war on a secret mission from the colonies, but I still wanted to be a normal teen! On the contrary to my four other depressing…*achem*…comrades.
Heero Yuy. Yeesh, he's antisocial, thinks he's Evil Kenival, and he hardly speaks! You've got such a gloomy personality why don't you just give up trying to be human! He was the first pilot I wound up meeting at the barrel end of a pistol. I swear this guy has two emotions total: angry and just plain pissed off to all hell! He tried to tell me once that I stood out. Whatever! Sure, my three foot braid's a little…odd. Even I'll admit to that, but last time I checked, majority of the teens on Earth weren't running around scowling and grumbling "I'll kill you" with every other sentence.
Then there's Quatre Raberba Winner, the complete opposite of Heero and the closest to my personality you'll get with in the five of us. Bright, sunny, kind of funny in his own right, and rarely angry, brooding, or silent. He's usually got an opinion or theory on something that's going on. At least he's not a smart-ass jester like I am. We only need one of me, thanks. Quatre happens to be the heir to the Winner fortune, the son of one of the richest men in the colonies. Quatre disinherited himself in order to fight in this war.
He's silent unless he really wants to express his opinion on something, which isn't all that often since Trowa Barton is always analyzing the battle or people around him. Most of the time he wears a mask of unexpression and it constantly makes you wonder what's going on behind those deep green eyes of his? Also (this may sound a little weird) he got a job as an acrobatic clown in a traveling circus. Strangely enough he wears a half mask of a smiling clown with a single tear. Strange guy that Trowa.
Wufei Chang…oh brother…that's all I got to say. Him and I have almost never gotten along. He claims to judge integrity and justice, but I think he's just tripping'. He calls me weak, stupid, girly...you name it, and if it's an insult he's probably said it about me. Of course, the only way I'd ever go against him is in my Gundam. He's got flying' fists of fury that intimidate even me!
Yeah, so that's our group. I guess…I guess I'd call them my friends. Which seems strange seeing as how I haven't had any real friends since Solo died. I'm a war orphan, so I've pretty much been alone all my life, and Solo was a kid I knew when I was really young. He died when a virus outbreak on my colony killed almost half the population. But I'm getting off the subject, aren't I? I'll do that sometimes.
Anyway, like I said, at this point in my life I felt like I'd been piloting-
"Hey Duo!" A familiar voice called suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? What?" I asked Heero, who was standing in the doorway of my room with an annoyed look. Okay, I take it back. He has three expressions, annoyed included. I've always got this funny feeling he never got that annoyed expression until he met me…
"We're going." He stated simply. I saw a blonde head significantly shorter than Heero standing behind him, but not paying attention to what was going on. Quatre was talking to someone outside the door.
"All ready?" I asked in confusion, tearing my eyes away from the window and the scene of space outside.
"They've caught on to our plan. We're heading out now." Heero explained in his monotone voice.
"Oh." Was all I said, moving towards the door. Heero stepped aside to let me out. The moment I stepped beyond the door a quickly moving object, particularly Wufei in a hurry to get to his Gundam, pummeled me. My body slammed hard against the wall and I hit my head on something sharp.
"Maxwell!" He barked loudly at me once he recovered from hitting me. I, on the other hand, was still holding my head and trying not to float away in the almost Zero-Gravity, "Have you gone blind, baka! Why can't you ever watch where you're going?!" I muttered softly under my breath, not wanting to get into it with the Chinese pilot.
"Duo just came out the door, Wufei. He didn't see you, so stop bitching at him. Besides, you were moving too fast to even see that we were down here, so I'd say it was more your fault." Heero suddenly defended gruffly. I slapped myself and shook my head. Heero? Defending me?
I was convinced that the guy had gone for one too many drinks or something. This was really, really freaky. Even Trowa and Quatre seemed surprised and had stopped in mid conversation to stare at the guy. Wufei opened his mouth for a moment to say something, then thought better of it and headed for the hangar. Trowa and Quatre looked at Heero with wide eyes then followed Wufei. My head was still spinning and I was having a hard time getting up. I felt a pair of inhumanly strong hands grab my shoulders and hoist my back to my feet.
"Are you coming?" he asked me, expression unchanging. I sighed and headed forward.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going. Don't rush me." I muttered.
"Hey Duo." I froze. Was that some actual softness I heard in the "perfect soldier's" voice? Nah…I had to be imagining things. It was that hit to the head. Had to be…
"Yeah, Heero?" I answered.
"I…" Heero trailed off. I was pretty amazed, for once he was at a loss of words, "I have a strange question." He finally said Boy, was he acting out of character or what?
"Shoot."
"Do you consider me a friend?" My jaw dropped and I stumbled over my words. I couldn't believe what Heero Yuy had just asked me. I got some composure of myself and waved my hand as if it were no big deal, never turning around to look at him. I didn't know how to react so I treated it as he usually treated me: like it wasn't there.
Yeah, sure Heero. I consider you a friend. Why wouldn't I?" I asked. There was no answer. I shrugged and walked off to prepare for the up coming battle.
~
"What is taking him so long!" I screamed over the COM system of you Gundams to Quatre. Behind me a large explosion from the falling chunk of battleship Libra, which we were all in, threw me off balance slightly.
"I don't know Duo!" Quatre answered from Sandrock as the four of us, minus Heero, tried to destroy the falling block from the inside in hopes of saving the Earth.
"He ran into Zechs!" Wufei suddenly answered, "and he dropped his buster rifle! I'm gonna get it to him!" he told us, turning Altron away from the scene with Wing Zero's buster rifle in it's hands.
"I'll go with you." Trowa said from Heavyarms.
"No, you stay here and see what damage you can do!"
"Wufei!" I called out.
"Just do it, Maxwell!" he snapped, finally leaving.
"Damn it! We're not doing enough damage!" I protested even though Wufei had already cut the link.
"Just do what you can Duo! Heero can take care of the rest if he gets his-" suddenly Quatre's reply was cut off.
"Guys, get out of here!" Heero yelled.
"What?" The four of us yelled back. Wufei had brought his link back up. Suddenly Heero's face appeared on the video screen. He looked like hell. There was something in his eyes. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"There's only one way to destroy this block!" Heero said. We all caught on.
"Heero, are you insane?" Trowa yelled.
"No…" was all I could mutter.
"Heero, please don't!" Quatre pleaded.
"Heero! It's not the only way! I have your buster rifle!" Wufei told him.
"We don't have the time! Get out now or I'll blow it with you in it!" Heero snapped back, his eyes actually showing some emotion, one I had never seen before: fear. Not for himself but for the people on Earth.
"Heero…" Quatre trailed off, turning Sandrock towards the nearest entrance.
"I'm sorry." Heero said quietly. Heavyarms followed Sandrock.
"God's speed, Heero. We'll meet again." Trowa said remorsefully, taking off into space. I sat there, completely frozen. My head was hung and I actually felt tears in my eyes. I suddenly regretted my carefree motion to Heero's question back on Peacemillion.
"Duo, go." Heero said quietly.
"I'm not leaving." I said.
"Duo…Goddamn it, don't do this to me." Heero growled, clenching and unclenching his fist. I finally raised my head, not caring about the tears spilling down my checks.
"Heero, when you asked me if I considered you a friend, I didn't know what to say because I didn't know how to answer, but I know now. You are my friend, Heero. My best friend. You've been there for my in this war in your own way and for me that was enough. I looked up to you a lot, too. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've cased you. You were never any trouble. Hell, you showed me more than once.
"Thank you, Duo. I wanted to know that. Yow should probably know before I do this that you're the only one I've ever considered a true friend. I'm glad to have met someone like you I in my life." He told me, finally looking up at me. His eyes were wide, "Get out of here, Duo!" he screamed at me.
"No!" I yelled out furiously. Before either he or I had a chance to say anything Altron came blasting out of nowhere and rammed into my Deathscythe, throwing both of us out side of the block with the power of it's rockets.
"Maxwell, you are such an idiot." Wufei grumbled, his voice just barely cracking.
"WUFEI! DAMN YOU. LET ME GO BACK!" I screamed, spilling down my cheeks as I tried to struggle out of his grasp.
"No."
"LET ME GO!" I screamed, "HEERO!" On the video screen, Heero looked up.
"Goodbye…friend." He said, picking up the detonator.
"No!" I screamed as loud as I could. Heero pressed the button. A tiny explosion on the block suddenly turned into a thousand huge ones.
And all I did was scream…
~
"Duo wake up!" someone was screaming in my ear. That same someone was shaking me violently. I jolted awake and looked franticly around.
'Class…I'm in class…' I thought, my mind slowly coming into comprehension. Someone was laughing.
"Maxwell, you baka! You fell asleep in class again!" Wufei Chang was saying through his laughter. I looked up to see it was Heero Yuy shaking me with a dopey grin on his face.
"Come on, Duo. It's time to go home. The bell rang over fifteen minutes ago." He said with a smile. I had to laugh. That dream seemed so real…
"That's the fifth time you've fallen asleep this week Duo!" Quatre Raberba Winner exclaimed as I stood, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. I walked out with my friends.
"Have you been sleeping at all?" Trowa Barton asked me worriedly, looking me over with those analyzing eyes.
"Sleep? What's sleep?" I joked, mock dragging my body along the halls with eyes half-open. My friends laughed, "Seriously, though, I had the most bizarre dream!" I told them as we headed out the doors and down to the sidewalk.
"Really, like what?" Heero asked.
"Oh man it was so trippy! We were all in this war, only it wasn't on Earth!" I told them. Quatre stepped in front of me, two fingers behind his head like antennas.
"We were fighting aliens with big black eyes and green heads." He said with a mocking smile and shining eyes. I glared, "Take me to your leader" he said in a mechanical voice, "We wish to destroy your world."
"Shut up, Quatre!" I yelled, smacking him upside the head. He yelped in pain and hid behind Trowa, "No, they were space colonies, and it was the Earth and space colonies were fighting! We had these huge robot-like things called Gundams that people piloted like a plane, and they were awesome weapons! They stood as tall as a skyscraper! But there was this huge chunk of a battleship or something called Libra falling to Earth." I explained. I seemed to have Heero's interest at least. Wufei gave a bored yawn, and Trowa and Quatre were roughhousing up ahead.
"And?"
"Well, you had this really powerful one called Wing Zero. You decided to self-detonate the thing in order to break up the block so it wouldn't kill all those people down on Earth." I told him
"Wing Zero, hmm?" he asked.
"Yeah. I had one called Deathscythe Hell, and I called myself Shinigami for some reason." I said, scratching the back of my head uncertainly. I started self-consciously playing with the end of my long braid.
"The God of Death?" Trowa asked cynically, one eyebrow raised. Quatre looked up form his position under Trowa's arm where he was being held captive.
"Yeah, weird huh?" Trowa busted up laughing.
"I'm sorry, but you really don't strike me as the 'Death' type." He explained, "Your way to happy for that, Duo." I frowned.
"You were a clown in a circus." I said rudely. Trowa stopped laughing suddenly, Quatre Picked up where he stopped since he had gotten free from his grasp.
"A clown!" he exclaimed through his laughter, pointing at Trowa, Trowa raised a hand to hit him and Quatre ran ahead, walking backwards again.
"So, what one did I get?"
"One called Sandrock. Had some pretty kickem' ass rapiers, too."
"Sandrock…okay, whatever." Quatre said with a shrug.
"Hey, I wouldn't shrug it off like that! You wee also one of the richest kids in the colonies!"
"I was? How so?"
"The heir to a fortune by your father."
"Ha! That will be the day…"
"And me?" Wufei asked, a tiny bit of interest creeping through.
"Uuu…some funky name like Altalong…Altron! That's it…I think…" Wufei made a rude noise through his lips.
"I think you've lost it, Maxwell." He muttered.
"Wufei, would you please call me by my first name?" I pleaded though really I didn't want to grovel to him. No reply.
"So what happened after I self-detonated?" Heero asked. I shrugged.
"The whole block explode, then I woke up with Laughing Boy over there braying like a donkey." I said. Wufei just glared at me.
"Hn…"
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
"Hai." Heero answered, a smirk slowly flickering on his lips.
"Heero…" I muttered, deflating.
"No, Duo, I don't think you're crazy. I think you just need to stop reading those comic books." Heero called over his shoulder, "And get some sleep at night." I sighted and ran to catch up with my friends.
"Yeah, maybe your right. It was just a dream, right?"
"Yup. Like anything like that would ever really happen." Heero said.
"Uh-hu. It was stupid to even think it." I said. Suddenly a thought struck me. I stopped as my friends walked ahead of me, looking up at the sky, I saw something streak across the sky. I'm not sure what it was, but what ever it was brought a smile to my lips.
Maybe…maybe it could happen…who knows…it would be kinda cool, thou, wouldn't it?
"Duo!" Heero called out.
"Coming!" I called back, running to my friends again. Laughing as Trowa got Quatre in a painful looking headlock and tousled his white-blonde hair. I busted a gut when he finally stood up, his hair comically splayed every which way.
But I think I'm happy right where I'm at…
Mercury: Hi, me again. Was that strange? When I wrote this I claimed it was the never ending Christmas music, two hours of sleep, and cough medicine, but, as I now know there is no reason for my insanity…
Duo: There isn't? Wow…I coulda swore it was genetics or something!
Mercury: OI! What exactly are you implying about my family, Maxwell?
Duo: Dude, I have met your mother…she is totally flipped…but she's also pretty damn cool!
Mercury: So…what does that make me?
Duo: I dunno. I've never met your father.
Mercury: ::Rolls eyes:: Trust me, you don't want to.
Duo: All in all, for a writer that kills me off every other story, you're pretty cool to.
Mercury: Thanks!
Duo: Okay, can I have my scythe back now?
Mercury: No.
Duo: What happened to your sword?
Mercury: ::Shrugs:: Don't like it no more.
Duo: ::Sweat dropped. Looks to readers:: Review this story if you dare, but be warned it means you have truly lost your mind…
Mercury: Stop dissing on my stories, DUO!
Duo: ::Sighs:: Good night, folks. ::Clicks on the 'back' button::