Despite politely written requests to Bandai, I do not own Gundam Wing.
Another attempt at seriousness. When will I learn? Death, torture and general unpleasantness ahead, people. Also, it's AU, I guess, since it splits off after the end of the series, so Endless Waltz hasn't, and never will, happen in this universe. This is because I haven't actually seen Endless Waltz, although I think I've got the gist of it from fanfics I've read (... ah, I wish they'd've put spoiler warnings in, although I was expecting it, so I wasn't angry or anything... it was more of an annoyance).
So, anyway, in this universe, the colonies each have their own direct democracies, with one assembly with reps from all the colonies to regulate trade and communications in space, and between space and earth. Earth (the World Nation) has(is) a republic. Relena is a representative for a region that includes what was the Sanq Kingdom. And this universe isn't completely without any similarities to Endless Watlz.. I don't think. Like I said, I haven't seen it, so I can't be sure. Yes, that information has some relevancy to the story. I'm not sure how much yet, though. This universe came from some early fics of mine best forgotten.
Also, this fic contains shonen ai, 1x2 and 3x4.. and OOCness for some people...
a quick legend for everyone:
"..."-talking
~...~-thinking
{{...}}-telepathic communication
Hope that doesn't confuse you too much ^_^ And just because telepathic communication is in the legend, doesn't necessarily mean it'll be used. This is just my cut 'n' paste legend I use for most serious fics o mine.
(First time I've used on ff net, though. If you read more of my serious stuff I write, you'll be seeing this legend again..)
And now, finally, the fic!
++++++++++
The Pain of Life or The Quiet Of Death
(Part One - Falling)
by Shinigamis"I should really be studying for History now..."Angel
Chapter 1
Duo was dead. ~If it wasn't for me, he'd still be alive...~ Heero thought bitterly to himself.
Duo had died on a mission for the United Earth/Space Armed Forces. It was rarely called the United Earth/Space Armed Forces, usually being referred to as the United Armed Forces, UAF, or UESAF. But that was besides the point.
The UAF was -the- army. It was the only military force allowed, which answered to both the world nation and the colonial assembly. It was created because some people need to know that there -would- be consequences for their actions. Like how there would be anarchy without a law force, the newly formed governments feared there would be anarchy without a military. After some debate, the UFA was created.
Heero had joined immediatly. Being a soldier was what he knew. Duo hadn't wanted to join, Heero knew it. He would have much rathered to continued to work salvage. Heero was pretty sure... no, Heero -knew-, the only reason Duo had joined was because he wanted to work with him. Because of their skill and experience during the war, Duo, Wufei, Trowa, and he had all been given the rank of colonel. Quatre was the only one not to join, mainly because he represented his colony in the colonial assembly. The newly christened colonels either commanded their own regiments, or the four worked together on operations that requiered a small and very talented force. It was during one of the latter that Duo had died. A well armed terrorist group had gotten hold of the smallpox virus, and could have developed biological weapons from it...
Heero tried not to think about it too much. It wasn't until Duo's death that Heero truely understood his feelings for him... or, maybe it was when Heero was finally able to admit to himself that he felt that way. Feelings that he had merely pushed away, even though he knew Duo shared them. Only when this world came chrashing down around him as the the light went out of the other pilot's eyes did he realize how much the American ment to him. And, now, Duo never would be able to know.
~If I had not joined, he would be alive. If I had not been such a coward as to run from my own heart, he would still be alive. If I had been more observant on the mission, he would still be alive. If, if, if....~ He couldn't believe he was stuck on these 'what if's. It was disgusting. He should be the one dead...
After that mission, Heero had resigned his commission. He couldn't even stand to be around there anymore, where Duo had worked... people all in the same uniform he'd worn... But fighting was all he knew, and he had found his way back to it. He was just on a different side now. He didn't care about sides anymore. He didn't care about anything. Death, life, good, bad, boxers, briefs... it was all the same to him.
He'd changed alot since that day. Like now he was participating in something he never would have before.
He was involved in a conspiracy to kill Relena Darlain.
Ha. And no one knew it. He'd taken extreme care with his 'disappearence'. With 'friends' like the gundam pilots, who would come looking for him, and knew very well how to do so, he'd need to be thorough. He'd watched them to be sure they wouldn't find something he might have overlooked (although he -knew- he hadn't left anything to chance). Quatre was the only one who'd tried, the others knowing that if Heero wanted to be gone, there was no use in trying to find him.
He thought a minute about having to confront Wufei or Trowa, on the battliefield... as enemies... Well, at least they had a chance at actually ending his miserable, pointless life.
Chapter 2
Trowa looked in Heero's empty office, and then at the door to Duo's. It still had 'Col. Duo Maxwell' on the door, just like Heero's still held his name plate on it. It had been months. No one had the heart to remove the signs, to use the space. No one wanted to admit they were gone.
Trowa was starled when he felt a hand slip around his waist. "Sorry, didn't mean to surprize you like that." Quatre said quietly as Trowa looked down at the little blonde.
"They adjourn the meeting?" Trowa asked his little angel. Quatre shook his head, "Just a long lunch break." There was a long silence as they stood between the silent rooms. Unnaturally silent, especially since one should have contained Duo.
"It's hard to believe." Quatre stated. Trowa simply nodded. "Do you think we'll ever see Heero again?" came Quatre's soft voice once again.
"I honestly have no idea." Trowa replied. The two stood there, each remembering their lost comrades... one that could never return to this place, another who never would want to.
Chapter 3
Heero looked into Westlin's eyes, and knew he wasn't all there. But then again, Heero himself wasn't exactly sane, either. Which was why they were doing this. Westlin had some obsessive hate for the Sanq Kingdom and Relena. He planned to not only kill her, but to completely eradicate all life inside the old borders of the Sanq Kingdom. Schneider, his right hand woman, obviously had plans to take over Westlin's organization once his goal was accomplished. Obvious to Heero at least. Westlin was probably just too absorbed to notice. She would probably threaten to attack other reprisentives and their old countries after Relena was made an example out of, or something, to try to get whatever she wanted from the World Nation or the Colonial Assembly. Heero didn't care about what she did once the mission was over.
"Janus, you're just going to be there as back up in case they don't feel like honoring the deal.", Westlin said, and Heero nodded. Janus was the name he used when he approched these people. He hadn't exactly spent 7 hours deciding what he was going to call himself.
***
Heero and fellow members of his group followed Westlin into the abandoned warehouse. They were all heavily armed and ready. There hadn't been any traps detected... yet, anyway.
The people who were selling Westlin the weapon he needed to accomplish his task came in the other side of the warehouse. As they got closer, Heero realized that he knew those people. With horror, he identified them as the same people who had stolen the smallpox virus. The same people who'd killed Duo... The weapon his group was buying must have been the fruit of their experiments with the virus. All the virus was thought to have been recovered from the site, but appearently not. A biological weapon of that calibur would probably have the destructive power Westlin desired. Heero did his best to keep himself composed, to fight the urge to tear those people's hearts out, rip off their heads, and spit down their necks.
The deal seemed to go by smoothly, and the money was exchanged for several metal briefcases. They turned to exit, Heero and a couple of others walking backwards to keep an eye on the sellers. They weren't out yet, and there was still plenty of time for dirty tricks. Then Heero felt something hit him in the neck. Before he could even look in the direction it came from, he was swallowed by the darkness.
***
When Heero woke up, he was met by the cold green eyes of one of the weapon makers. He made to grab the person's throat, and found himself shackled to a metal table, with tubes and things either stuck into or taped to him. He couldn't quite see them, but he felt them, so he knew that they were there. It was somewhat simular when he'd been captured that day he first came to earth... but it was exactly the same as.... no.. he wouldn't think of that -now-.
The man looked up and away. Heero tried to follow his gaze, but even his head was strapped tightly to the table, and he couldn't. Then another man Heero reconized from that fateful mission peered down at him. His eyes were a dark brown, his black hair cut close to his head. He sneered as he said, "Good morning, Heero Yuy." Heero seethed in rage. His eyes narrowed at the man, but he managed to keep himself mostly under control.
"Westlin was very upset to hear you're a UAF spy. He gave you to us for use in our ... research.", the second man said mocklingly, as the one with the green eyes left Heero's field of vision. Heero couldn't take it anymore, to be here, with Duo's murders, likely to share his fate. He snarled, and throwing himself against the restraints, his eyes filled with pure hate, he spat at the man closest to him. The man stood straight, wiping his face with his sleeve. "You should save your strength, labrat." the man said calmly. He looked over at something, or someone, Heero couldn't see. The man nodded, and then Heero felt pain surge through him, and he held his breath to keep him from making a sound. His entire body convulsed violently, and he lost all concept of time to the undelutied sensation of pure pain. He could have been like that for 20 seconds, or 3 hours. Then the worst of it was gone in an instant, although he was hurting still. Heero gasped, finally being able to take another breath.
"I do not tolerate insolence from labrats.", the man with his same cool demenor. He regarded Heero for a moment, "Quiet, hmm? Well, every test subject finds their voice with us. You should know that." The brown-eyed man put one hand on the edge of the table, and walked down to it's end, watching Heero the entire time then continued, "I'm sure you're aware of the use of eletrocution as a method of torture. This isn't one of the experiments. But you see, we need to make sure our labrats can squeal..." The man's lips curved up in a sadistic little smile. As the man looked up and away from Heero while simultaniously lifting his and from the table, Heero tensed, trying to seal himself against what he knew was coming. As another electrical charge blasted through Heero's defenseless body, he knew there would be no surviving this failed mission.
But did it matter?
Chapter 4
Quatre couldn't sleep. Something was wrong. He knew it. It had to be Heero. Heero was in trouble. It was that little talent of his acting up again, although he didn't know anything other than something was terribly wrong. He couldn't exactly approch anyone with such little information to go on.
Even if he did know Heero was in trouble, there wasn't anything he or anyone else could do. Heero had covered up his tracks too well, slipping, unnoticed, into the sea of people in space. Or maybe he'd gone back to Earth. Without any leads, there was no way of knowing.
"Oh, Heero, why did you leave? .... it wasn't your fault." Quatre said softly to no one as he stared up at the colony's half-real half-projected sea of stars from the balcony. He knew there'd be no answer. Even if Heero was there, there'd be no answer. ~But self-accusation for Duo's death~, Quatre thought to himself, ~couldn't be the only reason you left, Heero. There was something more, right?~ Quatre sighed, and whispered softly , "I hope you find peace, my friend."
Trowa watched Quatre from the bed. He heard Quatre's words, and there was no question for whom they were intended. He silently got out of the bed, and wrapped his arms around the little blonde. At first, Quatre jumped, to lost in his own thoughts to notice Trowa coming up on him, but then he half turned in Trowa's grip, laying his head against Trowa's chest, "You know that I love you, right?"
"Of course, you know I do. You tell me every day, Little, but even if you didn't, I'd always know. Now come to bed, we both have to work early tomarrow."
"I hope he's okay." Quatre murmered.
~So do I... so do I...~ Trowa thought as Quatre and he made their way back to try to get some sleep.
Chapter 5
Heero was breathing in short, ragged gasps. His whole body shook with pain, and was wet with sweat. His lip was bleeding from where he clamped down on it to keep from giving that destesable man the satsifaction of hearing him scream. But it wouldn't be long before he couldn't contain the pain within himself any longer. Both he and the brown-eyed man knew it.
"His heartrate is dangerously high." came an unfamiliar female voice from somewhere behind Heero's head.
"Alright, that's fine. We've wasted enough time." the brown-eyed man, who was ovboiusly the highest ranking if not the leader of these people, said in the direction of the female voice. He looked over to Heero's right and told someone to bring the samples. Then his eyes focused on Heero once again, "We've created a sustance that burns tissue like acid, but it doesn't corrode metal, and it acts as a toxin. But only in an open wound. We're thinking about coating bullets with it. Sure, it won't be armor piercing, but maybe we can toy with it some more. But to even be nicked by a bullet covered with this solution would result in death... without the detox, which only we have. Yes, others will figure out how to make it eventually. And how fast the person would die depends on where the bullet hit them, but the estimate is if the target is nicked with a treated bulleted, they'd die withing three days. If it's a direct hit anywhere on their body, within 24 hours...", the man held up the two bottles, "We have two types, and we want to see which one works better. And in case you were wondering, we'll give you the detox before you die. We have uses for you yet." he explained.
Then the man was handed two small bottles. The person who brought the solution to the man pulled out a knife and walked over to Heero. He spread alcohol over the top of Heero's right forearm. Then he measured a six inch line, and drew out a scalpel. Heero winced as he was cut into, but managed not to make much of a sound. The procedure was repeated on his left arm, and still Heero was quiet. Then the brown-eyed man moved over to one of him arms, and carefully opening a bottle, used the eye dropper to place a small amount of the compound into Heero's wound. In a mere fraction of a second, just as the man started to walk over to drop the second solution into Heero's other wound, he began to feel the searing pain. The pain rapidly started to spread from his forearm up. At last, it was all too much for him, and he cried out in pure agony. He barely had the time to refill his lungs with air when he felt his pain double as the second solution was added. He screamed again in anguish. If the brown-eyed man was relishing in all this, Heero couldn't tell. The pain clouded his vision and invaded his every thought. He struggled in the retaints, the metal tearing into his flesh. But he didn't notice, because it paled in comparison to the buring pain from each of his arms.
***
So the days went by, the "scientists" pumping him full of this or that. He'd lost his voice due to the tormented cries he found himself making. He couldn't feel what exactly they were doing to him anymore, couldn't hear their explainations. He was contsainly suffering, so whatever they did didn't matter anymore. He just knew he hurt. While before he'd been rather indifferent to whether he lived or died, now he longed for death. It was the only thing that might end his pain. He'd do anything to make it stop.
{{What the hell have they done to you...?}} came the distressed, sympathetic forgien little thought inserted into his mind. Heero took a minute to put a conscious thought together, and when he did, that thought was ~... now I'm going insane...~
{{No you aren't.}} the voice inside Heero's head said firmly. A strangely familiar voice....
{{It'd better be!}}
Then Heero found himself completely released from his pain. He was standing on what felt to be something hard and tangable, but there didn't appear to be a floor, or walls, or anything else. Just grey nothingness. Was this death? He looked down at himself, and he was completely unmarked. He heard someone clearing their throat behind him, and he turned.
"...Duo?"
The figure before him definatly was Duo. His hair was in its customary braid, his violet eyes sparkling with that which was his very essence. He was clothed in that same priest outfit he had on when they'd first laid eyes on eachother. But there was something different. It was then Heero noticed the long, graceful ebony bat-like wings that arched from his back, and the large scythe with an elaborately carved onyx shaft and silver blade he wielded. As Heero started at him in total shock, a small smile crept up onto Duo's lips.
"What were you expecting... an angel of mercy?"
++++++++++The End++++++++++
I hope you liked. Part 2 is up, but I still encourage you to review this induvidual part. Thanks.
-ShinigamisAngel
shinigamisangel@yahoo.com
Another attempt at seriousness. When will I learn? Death, torture and general unpleasantness ahead, people. Also, it's AU, I guess, since it splits off after the end of the series, so Endless Waltz hasn't, and never will, happen in this universe. This is because I haven't actually seen Endless Waltz, although I think I've got the gist of it from fanfics I've read (... ah, I wish they'd've put spoiler warnings in, although I was expecting it, so I wasn't angry or anything... it was more of an annoyance).
So, anyway, in this universe, the colonies each have their own direct democracies, with one assembly with reps from all the colonies to regulate trade and communications in space, and between space and earth. Earth (the World Nation) has(is) a republic. Relena is a representative for a region that includes what was the Sanq Kingdom. And this universe isn't completely without any similarities to Endless Watlz.. I don't think. Like I said, I haven't seen it, so I can't be sure. Yes, that information has some relevancy to the story. I'm not sure how much yet, though. This universe came from some early fics of mine best forgotten.
Also, this fic contains shonen ai, 1x2 and 3x4.. and OOCness for some people...
a quick legend for everyone:
"..."-talking
~...~-thinking
{{...}}-telepathic communication
Hope that doesn't confuse you too much ^_^ And just because telepathic communication is in the legend, doesn't necessarily mean it'll be used. This is just my cut 'n' paste legend I use for most serious fics o mine.
(First time I've used on ff net, though. If you read more of my serious stuff I write, you'll be seeing this legend again..)
And now, finally, the fic!
++++++++++
The Pain of Life or The Quiet Of Death
(Part One - Falling)
by Shinigamis"I should really be studying for History now..."Angel
Chapter 1
Duo was dead. ~If it wasn't for me, he'd still be alive...~ Heero thought bitterly to himself.
Duo had died on a mission for the United Earth/Space Armed Forces. It was rarely called the United Earth/Space Armed Forces, usually being referred to as the United Armed Forces, UAF, or UESAF. But that was besides the point.
The UAF was -the- army. It was the only military force allowed, which answered to both the world nation and the colonial assembly. It was created because some people need to know that there -would- be consequences for their actions. Like how there would be anarchy without a law force, the newly formed governments feared there would be anarchy without a military. After some debate, the UFA was created.
Heero had joined immediatly. Being a soldier was what he knew. Duo hadn't wanted to join, Heero knew it. He would have much rathered to continued to work salvage. Heero was pretty sure... no, Heero -knew-, the only reason Duo had joined was because he wanted to work with him. Because of their skill and experience during the war, Duo, Wufei, Trowa, and he had all been given the rank of colonel. Quatre was the only one not to join, mainly because he represented his colony in the colonial assembly. The newly christened colonels either commanded their own regiments, or the four worked together on operations that requiered a small and very talented force. It was during one of the latter that Duo had died. A well armed terrorist group had gotten hold of the smallpox virus, and could have developed biological weapons from it...
Heero tried not to think about it too much. It wasn't until Duo's death that Heero truely understood his feelings for him... or, maybe it was when Heero was finally able to admit to himself that he felt that way. Feelings that he had merely pushed away, even though he knew Duo shared them. Only when this world came chrashing down around him as the the light went out of the other pilot's eyes did he realize how much the American ment to him. And, now, Duo never would be able to know.
~If I had not joined, he would be alive. If I had not been such a coward as to run from my own heart, he would still be alive. If I had been more observant on the mission, he would still be alive. If, if, if....~ He couldn't believe he was stuck on these 'what if's. It was disgusting. He should be the one dead...
After that mission, Heero had resigned his commission. He couldn't even stand to be around there anymore, where Duo had worked... people all in the same uniform he'd worn... But fighting was all he knew, and he had found his way back to it. He was just on a different side now. He didn't care about sides anymore. He didn't care about anything. Death, life, good, bad, boxers, briefs... it was all the same to him.
He'd changed alot since that day. Like now he was participating in something he never would have before.
He was involved in a conspiracy to kill Relena Darlain.
Ha. And no one knew it. He'd taken extreme care with his 'disappearence'. With 'friends' like the gundam pilots, who would come looking for him, and knew very well how to do so, he'd need to be thorough. He'd watched them to be sure they wouldn't find something he might have overlooked (although he -knew- he hadn't left anything to chance). Quatre was the only one who'd tried, the others knowing that if Heero wanted to be gone, there was no use in trying to find him.
He thought a minute about having to confront Wufei or Trowa, on the battliefield... as enemies... Well, at least they had a chance at actually ending his miserable, pointless life.
Chapter 2
Trowa looked in Heero's empty office, and then at the door to Duo's. It still had 'Col. Duo Maxwell' on the door, just like Heero's still held his name plate on it. It had been months. No one had the heart to remove the signs, to use the space. No one wanted to admit they were gone.
Trowa was starled when he felt a hand slip around his waist. "Sorry, didn't mean to surprize you like that." Quatre said quietly as Trowa looked down at the little blonde.
"They adjourn the meeting?" Trowa asked his little angel. Quatre shook his head, "Just a long lunch break." There was a long silence as they stood between the silent rooms. Unnaturally silent, especially since one should have contained Duo.
"It's hard to believe." Quatre stated. Trowa simply nodded. "Do you think we'll ever see Heero again?" came Quatre's soft voice once again.
"I honestly have no idea." Trowa replied. The two stood there, each remembering their lost comrades... one that could never return to this place, another who never would want to.
Chapter 3
Heero looked into Westlin's eyes, and knew he wasn't all there. But then again, Heero himself wasn't exactly sane, either. Which was why they were doing this. Westlin had some obsessive hate for the Sanq Kingdom and Relena. He planned to not only kill her, but to completely eradicate all life inside the old borders of the Sanq Kingdom. Schneider, his right hand woman, obviously had plans to take over Westlin's organization once his goal was accomplished. Obvious to Heero at least. Westlin was probably just too absorbed to notice. She would probably threaten to attack other reprisentives and their old countries after Relena was made an example out of, or something, to try to get whatever she wanted from the World Nation or the Colonial Assembly. Heero didn't care about what she did once the mission was over.
"Janus, you're just going to be there as back up in case they don't feel like honoring the deal.", Westlin said, and Heero nodded. Janus was the name he used when he approched these people. He hadn't exactly spent 7 hours deciding what he was going to call himself.
***
Heero and fellow members of his group followed Westlin into the abandoned warehouse. They were all heavily armed and ready. There hadn't been any traps detected... yet, anyway.
The people who were selling Westlin the weapon he needed to accomplish his task came in the other side of the warehouse. As they got closer, Heero realized that he knew those people. With horror, he identified them as the same people who had stolen the smallpox virus. The same people who'd killed Duo... The weapon his group was buying must have been the fruit of their experiments with the virus. All the virus was thought to have been recovered from the site, but appearently not. A biological weapon of that calibur would probably have the destructive power Westlin desired. Heero did his best to keep himself composed, to fight the urge to tear those people's hearts out, rip off their heads, and spit down their necks.
The deal seemed to go by smoothly, and the money was exchanged for several metal briefcases. They turned to exit, Heero and a couple of others walking backwards to keep an eye on the sellers. They weren't out yet, and there was still plenty of time for dirty tricks. Then Heero felt something hit him in the neck. Before he could even look in the direction it came from, he was swallowed by the darkness.
***
When Heero woke up, he was met by the cold green eyes of one of the weapon makers. He made to grab the person's throat, and found himself shackled to a metal table, with tubes and things either stuck into or taped to him. He couldn't quite see them, but he felt them, so he knew that they were there. It was somewhat simular when he'd been captured that day he first came to earth... but it was exactly the same as.... no.. he wouldn't think of that -now-.
The man looked up and away. Heero tried to follow his gaze, but even his head was strapped tightly to the table, and he couldn't. Then another man Heero reconized from that fateful mission peered down at him. His eyes were a dark brown, his black hair cut close to his head. He sneered as he said, "Good morning, Heero Yuy." Heero seethed in rage. His eyes narrowed at the man, but he managed to keep himself mostly under control.
"Westlin was very upset to hear you're a UAF spy. He gave you to us for use in our ... research.", the second man said mocklingly, as the one with the green eyes left Heero's field of vision. Heero couldn't take it anymore, to be here, with Duo's murders, likely to share his fate. He snarled, and throwing himself against the restraints, his eyes filled with pure hate, he spat at the man closest to him. The man stood straight, wiping his face with his sleeve. "You should save your strength, labrat." the man said calmly. He looked over at something, or someone, Heero couldn't see. The man nodded, and then Heero felt pain surge through him, and he held his breath to keep him from making a sound. His entire body convulsed violently, and he lost all concept of time to the undelutied sensation of pure pain. He could have been like that for 20 seconds, or 3 hours. Then the worst of it was gone in an instant, although he was hurting still. Heero gasped, finally being able to take another breath.
"I do not tolerate insolence from labrats.", the man with his same cool demenor. He regarded Heero for a moment, "Quiet, hmm? Well, every test subject finds their voice with us. You should know that." The brown-eyed man put one hand on the edge of the table, and walked down to it's end, watching Heero the entire time then continued, "I'm sure you're aware of the use of eletrocution as a method of torture. This isn't one of the experiments. But you see, we need to make sure our labrats can squeal..." The man's lips curved up in a sadistic little smile. As the man looked up and away from Heero while simultaniously lifting his and from the table, Heero tensed, trying to seal himself against what he knew was coming. As another electrical charge blasted through Heero's defenseless body, he knew there would be no surviving this failed mission.
But did it matter?
Chapter 4
Quatre couldn't sleep. Something was wrong. He knew it. It had to be Heero. Heero was in trouble. It was that little talent of his acting up again, although he didn't know anything other than something was terribly wrong. He couldn't exactly approch anyone with such little information to go on.
Even if he did know Heero was in trouble, there wasn't anything he or anyone else could do. Heero had covered up his tracks too well, slipping, unnoticed, into the sea of people in space. Or maybe he'd gone back to Earth. Without any leads, there was no way of knowing.
"Oh, Heero, why did you leave? .... it wasn't your fault." Quatre said softly to no one as he stared up at the colony's half-real half-projected sea of stars from the balcony. He knew there'd be no answer. Even if Heero was there, there'd be no answer. ~But self-accusation for Duo's death~, Quatre thought to himself, ~couldn't be the only reason you left, Heero. There was something more, right?~ Quatre sighed, and whispered softly , "I hope you find peace, my friend."
Trowa watched Quatre from the bed. He heard Quatre's words, and there was no question for whom they were intended. He silently got out of the bed, and wrapped his arms around the little blonde. At first, Quatre jumped, to lost in his own thoughts to notice Trowa coming up on him, but then he half turned in Trowa's grip, laying his head against Trowa's chest, "You know that I love you, right?"
"Of course, you know I do. You tell me every day, Little, but even if you didn't, I'd always know. Now come to bed, we both have to work early tomarrow."
"I hope he's okay." Quatre murmered.
~So do I... so do I...~ Trowa thought as Quatre and he made their way back to try to get some sleep.
Chapter 5
Heero was breathing in short, ragged gasps. His whole body shook with pain, and was wet with sweat. His lip was bleeding from where he clamped down on it to keep from giving that destesable man the satsifaction of hearing him scream. But it wouldn't be long before he couldn't contain the pain within himself any longer. Both he and the brown-eyed man knew it.
"His heartrate is dangerously high." came an unfamiliar female voice from somewhere behind Heero's head.
"Alright, that's fine. We've wasted enough time." the brown-eyed man, who was ovboiusly the highest ranking if not the leader of these people, said in the direction of the female voice. He looked over to Heero's right and told someone to bring the samples. Then his eyes focused on Heero once again, "We've created a sustance that burns tissue like acid, but it doesn't corrode metal, and it acts as a toxin. But only in an open wound. We're thinking about coating bullets with it. Sure, it won't be armor piercing, but maybe we can toy with it some more. But to even be nicked by a bullet covered with this solution would result in death... without the detox, which only we have. Yes, others will figure out how to make it eventually. And how fast the person would die depends on where the bullet hit them, but the estimate is if the target is nicked with a treated bulleted, they'd die withing three days. If it's a direct hit anywhere on their body, within 24 hours...", the man held up the two bottles, "We have two types, and we want to see which one works better. And in case you were wondering, we'll give you the detox before you die. We have uses for you yet." he explained.
Then the man was handed two small bottles. The person who brought the solution to the man pulled out a knife and walked over to Heero. He spread alcohol over the top of Heero's right forearm. Then he measured a six inch line, and drew out a scalpel. Heero winced as he was cut into, but managed not to make much of a sound. The procedure was repeated on his left arm, and still Heero was quiet. Then the brown-eyed man moved over to one of him arms, and carefully opening a bottle, used the eye dropper to place a small amount of the compound into Heero's wound. In a mere fraction of a second, just as the man started to walk over to drop the second solution into Heero's other wound, he began to feel the searing pain. The pain rapidly started to spread from his forearm up. At last, it was all too much for him, and he cried out in pure agony. He barely had the time to refill his lungs with air when he felt his pain double as the second solution was added. He screamed again in anguish. If the brown-eyed man was relishing in all this, Heero couldn't tell. The pain clouded his vision and invaded his every thought. He struggled in the retaints, the metal tearing into his flesh. But he didn't notice, because it paled in comparison to the buring pain from each of his arms.
***
So the days went by, the "scientists" pumping him full of this or that. He'd lost his voice due to the tormented cries he found himself making. He couldn't feel what exactly they were doing to him anymore, couldn't hear their explainations. He was contsainly suffering, so whatever they did didn't matter anymore. He just knew he hurt. While before he'd been rather indifferent to whether he lived or died, now he longed for death. It was the only thing that might end his pain. He'd do anything to make it stop.
{{What the hell have they done to you...?}} came the distressed, sympathetic forgien little thought inserted into his mind. Heero took a minute to put a conscious thought together, and when he did, that thought was ~... now I'm going insane...~
{{No you aren't.}} the voice inside Heero's head said firmly. A strangely familiar voice....
{{It'd better be!}}
Then Heero found himself completely released from his pain. He was standing on what felt to be something hard and tangable, but there didn't appear to be a floor, or walls, or anything else. Just grey nothingness. Was this death? He looked down at himself, and he was completely unmarked. He heard someone clearing their throat behind him, and he turned.
"...Duo?"
The figure before him definatly was Duo. His hair was in its customary braid, his violet eyes sparkling with that which was his very essence. He was clothed in that same priest outfit he had on when they'd first laid eyes on eachother. But there was something different. It was then Heero noticed the long, graceful ebony bat-like wings that arched from his back, and the large scythe with an elaborately carved onyx shaft and silver blade he wielded. As Heero started at him in total shock, a small smile crept up onto Duo's lips.
"What were you expecting... an angel of mercy?"
++++++++++The End++++++++++
I hope you liked. Part 2 is up, but I still encourage you to review this induvidual part. Thanks.
-ShinigamisAngel
shinigamisangel@yahoo.com