A/N: Here's the standard disclaimer. I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters used here except for Kieara. Please don't sue me. I don't have any money. J Enjoy!
Standing alone on the edge of the cliff, Duo Maxwell leaned into the wind. It buffeted his slender body and pushed him away from the sheer drop. Not that he was worried. He'd jumped off the cliff too many times during his young life to let it bother him. He stood there, reflecting on his life, while the sun sank slowly beneath the edge of the horizon. A few minutes later, a bright red convertible pulled up beside his shimmering black gundam.
"Hi sis," he said casually.
"Hey." Kieara Treshane walked over to stand next to her brother. She allowed the wind to push her back slightly. "What did you want to talk to me about that was so important?"
"This." Duo handed Kieara a manila envelope. She took it with a quick sideways glance at him and popped it open. There was still enough light in the fiery sky for her to read what was written on the pieces of paper.
"What?!?" she shrieked. "This has to be wrong."
"It's not," Duo replied. "You'll notice there's five different doctors listed there. I've been to all of them."
"Kiearan," Kieara began.
"Ki, I can't do anything about this," Duo told her softly. He turned to face her. "I've checked into all my options. I'm just going to fade away slowly. I don't want to linger. I'm the God of Death, not one of His soulless puppets."
"Key, you know what'll happen if you kill yourself," Kieara protested.
Duo wrapped his arms around his sister. "Yes, I know," he said. His voice was rough with unshed tears. "That's why I want your help."
"How can I help you?" Kieara asked warily. She wrapped her arms tightly around him. She could feel the tremors shaking his thin frame. She leaned against his chest, listening to the comforting sound of his breathing.
"I want you to take my place as a Gundam pilot," Duo replied. "In fact, I want you to become Duo Maxwell. I can't do my job anymore. Heero's already noticed that I don't fly as well as I used to. The others aren't quite as observant. It won't take long, though. I can barely grip the controls these days."
"I'd have to become you," Kieara said. "They won't accept a female pilot."
"No they won't," Duo agreed. "I swiped plans for a mini-holographic projector. It should be powerful enough to hide your more obvious feminine features."
Kieara sniffed, blinking back her tears. "I hope so," she said. "Heero isn't exactly the gentlest person when he discovers things he doesn't like."
"I know," Duo said. "But we're twins. Unless you do something completely out of character, no one will know the difference."
"I'll try," Kieara said simply. Duo squeezed her once, and then walked over to his Gundam. He set it for auto pilot and stealth mode. He pulled out the recall device and sent Deathscythe down off the cliff. The water there was deep enough that no one would be able to detect it while it was cloaked.
"We have the schematics for D-Hell," Duo said. "We'll build her for you so you have a Gundam that will work better than mine does."
"Shinigami must never die," Kieara said sadly.
"No," Duo said seriously. "He can't die. That's why I need you, Ki."
"You've had me all our lives, Key," Kieara said. "I'm not about to walk away now."
"Thanks," Duo said. He hopped into the passenger seat of Kieara's little sports car. "Let's get out of here. For some reason, I'm feeling a little depressed."
Kieara managed a weak smile. "I wonder why?" she asked. She turned and released the medical reports into the air. The wind carried them out to the ocean. The sea did the rest, concealing from the world the dreadful secret that they carried. She hopped into her car and revved the engine. The twins had a love of going fast, so she put the pedal to the metal and sped towards their hilltop home.
Kieara couldn't help staring at her reflection as she and her brother stood side by side. It had been three months since his revelation, and they'd spent the entire time in a frenzy of construction. Her Gundam, the newly created Deathscythe Hell, rested in the hangar. The tiny projector that would hide the fact that she was a girl hung around her neck in the form of the golden crosses she and Duo always wore.
Instead of being dressed in her usual Gothic style, she was dressed in one of Duo's priest's outfits. Her chestnut hair hung in a braid down past her butt and her indigo eyes were now the same piercing violet as her twin's. Duo stood beside her, and had she not known which one of them was which, she'd have thought she was seeing double. "Benefits of being identical fraternal twins," Duo quipped.
Kieara shook her head. There were differences, but only someone who knew her twin like she did would see them. He was paler, and the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced. The pain that lurked just behind his cheerful expression was also obvious to her, in more ways than one. The strong aches in his body were echoed vaguely in hers. "Key, are you sure about this?" she asked. Even her voice sounded like his.
"You've got all the training I do, plus a little extra," Duo said. "You know how to pilot the Gundam. You can fight. You've got a decent head for strategy. You'll do fine."
"I don't know if I can kill people though," Kieara told him.
"Think of it this way," Duo said. "If you don't kill them, they're going to turn around and kill more innocent people. Like they did with Father Maxwell and Sister Helen."
"Like they're doing to you?" Kieara asked. Duo looked startled. "I did some checking too, brother dear. What's killing you isn't a natural illness. It's an engineered bacteria targeted for a specific person. You probably picked it up on your last mission."
"OZ must really not like me," Duo said lightly.
"I'm going to find out who planted the bacteria," Kieara said in a deadly calm voice. "That's one person I won't mind killing. I'll do it slowly and painfully, so they understand the full scope of what they're doing to you." The icy chill in her voice reminded Duo a little bit of Heero and his devotion to his mission.
"Be careful," Duo warned. "Don't let this turn you into someone like Heero."
"Hilde will be here if you need anything. Howard is staying with me for now, but I'll probably send him back before too long. You've taught me everything that you know about the pilots and all the codes. I've got your e-mail dumps and net posts memorized. I should be able to keep the old fools from realizing we've switched places for a little while," Kieara said, ignoring his warning.
"Good," Duo said. He kissed his sister on the forehead. "You'd better get out of here. I promised the guys I'd be back two months ago."
"Oh joy," Kieara sighed. "I get to have a pissed off Heero for my first encounter with them." She stopped. "You two share a room, don't you?"
"Yes," Duo said with a grin. "Guess you'll have to be really careful, won't you?"
Kieara stuck her tongue out at him. "Go lay down before you collapse," she snapped. "I'm heading out." She hugged him again, grabbed his duffel bag, and hurried out of the room. Duo watched her go, the concern and fear he felt showing openly on his face.
"Shinigami lives on, now a Goddess of Death," Duo said softly. He sank wearily onto his bed. "Together forever, beyond Death and Life. That's the bond of the twins."