SHADEDVIOLETS : Prologue

Written By: Sutoomu

© 2014

Foreword: Hello, my name is Sutoomu, and I have been writing Gundam Wing fanfiction since I was about fourteen, so, nine years now. I love the 'feels' I get from anime, and I also adore cosplay and the community around it. This is one of my more serious ideas, and the action happens pretty fast in the beginning of this fic. It does involve an original character, but the story is not focused solely on him. Duo Maxwell is the main character in this 'feels' fic.

Warning: AU, Yaoi / Shounen-Ai, Emotional Angst

Scene 1: Halos

"C'mon, 'Ro, that's bullshit, you can skip one night," Duo Maxwell chattered away on his cell phone animatedly. "It's me! You're seriously gonna deny a night with me to go to a première? You hate wearing suits! And she'll make you wear a tie! She always does! It's so she can strangle the life out of ya, 'Ro!"

Duo glanced over at his brother, who was chuckling at the conversation. Solo was currently driving them home after a very long and tedious meeting about their upcoming tour, which started in three weeks. It seemed lately that the meetings were endless, and this one had gone longer than expected. Both of them were glad to be going home finally, as it was already nearly midnight. It would only be a short while now before Solo would be climbing into bed with his wife and baby daughter, and Duo would be climbing into bed with Heero Yuy, his band-mate and occasional lover.

At least, this was what Duo hoped, if he could convince Heero to leave his ex-wife and her première. So far, it wasn't going well. Heero was getting more and more immune to Duo's pleading every time.

"What is this première even for?" Duo asked, exhaling in frustration at how stubborn Heero was being. He paused as Heero answered. "Perfume? Seriously? You're going to refuse me to go to a perfume party with Relena? Heero, c'mon! Stop torturing yourself! You know that if you go to this thing you're going to have to stand around drinking light champagne for hours on end while you listen to everyone blabbing on and on about how 'Lena's tenth generic perfume is 'the perfect blend of aromas'. Do you really want to do that to yourself?" Duo paused as Heero spoke again, rolling his eyes at Solo to express his impatience.

"Damn, poor Duo is gettin' refused! How could this happen?" Solo mocked Duo's manner, getting a side shot with a fist to the shoulder for it. Solo laughed at the ease of teasing Duo, who lived his life as a tease to others. "Relena must have a gun to his head on the other line. Keep tryin', Duo." Solo laughed some more.

"You know you want to come over and spend the night with me," Duo ignored Solo's antics as he continued to push with Heero. "Well, then she can deal with me...what? No, she would not win. I'm Duo. I always win." Pause. "She would not...c'mon, Heero, I don't think Relena hates me that much. We're frenemies." Pause. Then Duo suddenly exclaimed. "I did not make you guys divorce!"

Solo burst out laughing again at this as they turned onto the road that led home. "I wish I was recording this," he grinned.

"The 'other woman'? I was not the other woman! Relena was the one who was all crazy when you were married!" Duo defended himself loudly. "She broke into my house!" Pause, then an exasperated huff. "Fine. I just thought she was over it." Duo put a hand on the dash as Solo came to a stop for a red light. It turned green in the next second. "I didn't think she hated me still." Duo looked over to Solo as they pulled forward. "Hey, ya think Relena hates me?"

Duo's eyes widened as Solo looked over to answer, a halo of light suddenly flaring up around his brother. "SOLO!" Duo shouted his brother's name as he realized what was coming.

Time seemed to slow for Duo. The light flashed a brilliant white before there was the thundering smash of glass shattering and horrendous crunch of metal on metal, the truck colliding directly with the driver's side of the mercedes. The impact slammed Duo forcefully against his seat belt, viciously taking his breath away as the two vehicles slid violently across the intersection. Sparks flashed and the screech of metal on pavement resounded in Duo's ears before the tail of the car on Duo's side clipped a pole, sending it spinning suddenly in the other direction. This slammed Duo against his door as glass shattered across his face, the window imploding inwards from the impact. He felt pain and then weightlessness as the car flipped into the air. It landed on the roof with a sickening crunch, and then Duo's world went black, the car skidding to a smoky stop off the side of the road. Silence reigned as the crash ended.

But for one voice, desperately calling out into a cell phone on the other side of town. "Duo? Duo, answer me! DUO!"

Scene 2: Reaper

Note: (...) is words spoken through a cellphone

( Duo! Duo, are you there? Duo, answer me, damnit! DUO! )

Duo woke up to Heero yelling at him. That seemed normal, as did the dreadful pounding in his head, but the heavy pain in his chest and side wasn't. Was he hungover? What was going on? Duo he felt like he was in pain everywhere, especially his right arm. He couldn't remember anything...

Duo opened his eyes and saw a red blur. He shifted, inhaling sharply at the wave of pain it sent through him. He took a moment tried again, moving his left arm to wipe away the warm liquid coursing down his face. Duo looked at his hand, his vision focusing enough to see that it was covered in blood. He looked beyond his hands and focused on the shards of shattered glass coating the ground below him.

"What the...," Duo inhaled sharply as the memory of the headlights came back to him suddenly, and the terrifying sound as the truck had collided with their car. Duo began to shake as shock set in. He realized he was hanging upside down, still held in by his seatbelt, the roof a crumpled mess beneath him. His door was crushed inwards and the thick scent of smoke and gasoline coated the air. The car was a mess around him, a twisted monster of metal. Duo could hear Heero's muffled voice calling his name through the cell phone he'd been talking on, the call still connected.

And then Duo saw Solo and his instincts reacted. "Solo! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Duo's bloody hand fumbled and slipped at the seatbelt as he unlatched it in a sudden panic, fearing the worst. The release dropped him onto his shoulder, and the pain that shot through his right side was excruciating, making Duo shout out curses. He had definitely broken his right arm in the crash, as he couldn't even try to move it without pain shooting along like wildfire. He spared no time to rest his injuries, his fear for Solo overwhelming anything else.

The truck had hit Solo's door straight on at full speed. The impact had crushed the entire frame of the car inwards severely, and all Duo could see of his brother was his torso, head, and right arm. The rest of Solo was swallowed by the dash and door, crushed inwards viciously, consuming him. A thick gash across Solo's forehead was bleeding heavily, flowing over his closed eyes and dripping to the car roof beneath his skull. Duo saw blood all over his brother. It was literally everywhere. So much blood...

"Solo! Solo, please... please!" Duo begged out loud as he reached for Solo's neck with his uninjured arm, desperately trying to find a pulse. Time seemed to slow, to freeze as Duo pleaded silently with all the gods he knew that he would find a pulse. And as the seconds slowed to feel like an eternity, Duo felt like his heart was being crushed under an unbearable weight, an ache so great forming in his core. He was holding his breath, holding so still as he waited to feel the flutter beneath his fingertips, the faint beat of a heart, the bare hope that Solo was alive...but there was nothing. After a long moment, Duo finally swallowed, the reality digging its way inside his heart cruelly as he pulled his fingers away. He began to breathe fitfully, his chest aching as the truth dawned on him.

Solo was dead. His brother was dead. His heart had stopped and his blood was everywhere. Solo was dead, gone forever...

Duo suddenly felt a wave of anger wash over him, drowning his soul. "No, damnit! This isn't...Solo...this isn't fuckin' happening!" Duo screamed his anger, denying what was so obviously visible in front of him. "You can't die! You can't fucking die!" Duo tried again. He pushed against Solo's wounds to try to stop the bleeding. He pried and pulled at the metal pinning his brother's body down, clawing until his hand was sliced open. He shook Solo, begging his brother to wake up, to respond in any way. But Solo was dead, and as the minutes passed and Duo still could find no pulse, he truly fell apart.

"Damnit, I need you, you can't...Solo! " Duo broke into sobs, covering his eyes with his blood covered hand to erase the sight of Solo's lifeless face. But it burned like an imprint under his eyelids. Blood and more blood. Blood everywhere. "Please, please, please...," he wept brutally as he collapsed on his uninjured side, his heart and soul and very existence crumbling inside him. Duo had never been without his brother, Solo. This wasn't supposed to happen. Solo wasn't supposed to be like this, growing cold as his blood drained from his corpse. But that was all he was, now. A corpse.

Solo was gone forever.

And Duo had never before so desperately wished that it was him instead.

( Duo, answer me, please! Duo! )

Heero's voice broke through Duo's grief. Raking his left hand through the glass and debris, Duo found his cell phone. The screen was cracked but it was still working and connected, amazingly. Duo tried to wipe the blood off, shaking terribly. He put the phone to his ear, his body still torn with deep sobs.

"H-heero," Duo reached for the only lifeline he had. He tried to stop his sobs to breathe, to speak. His words came out broken. "Solo...Solo's dead, 'Ro. He...he's dead. Blood...blood's everywhere...I can't breathe," Duo grabbed at his chest, where the ache was too deep and too much. "I can't...he's fucking dead..." Duo broke down into a wail, an almost inhuman cry of grief and sorrow. He clutched at the phone with a white knuckled grip, pleading and pleading for the nightmare to end.

( Duo, you have to listen to me. I need you to breathe, ) Heero spoke to Duo finally after a moment of silence from his end, his voice strong and calm. Heero was always strong, always in control, unlike Duo. He tried to focus on Heero's voice as his grief drowned him. ( Are you hurt? Tell me if you're hurt, Duo. )

"Yeah," Duo answered obediently, his voice breaking to breathe as he trembled. "I think...I think I broke my arm...an' some ribs. My right side hurts. There's a lot o' blood, 'Ro..." Duo's voice wavered, his focus fading.

( Just do what I say, Duo, ) Heero ordered sharply. ( Can you get out of the car? I need you to try and get out, now. )

Duo looked over at his door. The metal was mashed in like some sort of sick modern art piece. "No, I can't...the car's upside down. I can't get out."

( Okay, tell me where you were when you crashed. I'll come to you, Duo, ) Heero continued quickly, distracting Duo's momentary thought process. ( Where are you? )

"I...I think it's...we were on Valley Drive," Duo recalled the turn onto their road, and the stop light. His breathing became quick and rapid as the memory flashed in his mind again. "I-It was a truck 'Ro. It drove right through the fucking stop light an' hit Solo's side."

( What intersection? )

Duo tried to think back to how far they'd gone down Valley Drive. Was it one, or two lights? Duo felt that it had been so quick, it had to be the first intersection after their turn. "Cherry. It's Cherry Street." Which meant that home was only four streets away. They had been less than two minutes away, where Hilde was waiting with baby Cadence, unaware that her husband was dead at this very moment. Duo's fist clenched unconsciously as he thought of Hilde, and the poor kids. The pain in his heart grew.

( Do you hear sirens? Heero continued asking questions. I need to know if there's an ambulance coming. )

Duo replied quickly to this one. "Yeah, I can hear them." The sound was faint, but growing, the wail piercing the calm night air.

( Okay, I'm going to keep you on the line, Duo, ) Heero explained. Duo heard the sound of an engine starting. ( Don't let the call end. I'm coming to you right now. I'll be five minutes. Just keep talking to me. Stay with me. )