Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or the G-boys... wish I did. Sadly I don't. I still only have ravenous blood-sucking dust bunnies...so I wouldn't recommend sueing.
All reviews are welcome. However, flames will be laughed at. If you don't like my work, thats fine... then give me an honest critique. If you're just going to tell me how lousy it is... just go away and don't bother.
The Voice
Duo watched as the trees slide by in a blur of brown and green; the sun was beginning to set, soon night would wrap the world in it's dark embrace. He stiffled a sigh as his thoughts drifted to space, and all that had happened there. Now, 15 years after the Mariemia incident, he and his fellow piolets were retired; yet still the wars haunted him. Not only did the horrors of the wars invade his dreams; but now...now a certain cobolt eyed stranger did as well. More so now then ever before. That same colbolt eyed stranger was sitting behind him; his presence like a hot poker down his back.
During the wars, Heero and he had grown very close; then after the Eve wars their partnership has progressed to the next level. The once quiet, stoic Yuy had lightened up and learned to laugh. At times he could be down right goofy around the right people. After two years of being together; two years of living and loving in a whirlwind of romance; Yuy and him decided to tie the knot. Nothing fancy, no extravegant wedding... just a simply little ceremony. Life was good...
Until four months ago.
Heero had worked for Preventors; a high risk but well paying job that required him to be away from the house and Duo for long periods of time. It was hard to be away from his lover; but the money was good and it normally wasn't more then a week at a time. Then, over the Easter weekend, he had to leave. It was suppose to be a simple assignment. Two days max. Then, that two days became two weeks. Next thing he knew; Heero had to leave immediatly for another job, and another. Only stopping in long enough to get clothes and perhaps a quickie from Duo.
After a month of being away; suspicion began to creep into Duo's mind. All through the wars and after, he had felt a connection to Heero. He felt secure in his love and affection. No matter where the other man was; Duo could sense him and feel his love. Now... now suddenly that connection was weak... nearly not existant. He wasn't sure when it happened or how but if felt like suddenly Heero was no longer there.
Then, Heero's checks started to mess up. Suddenly he wasn't even getting half of what he was suppose to; especially for all the overtime and holiday pay he was suppose to be getting. When Duo asked him about it; Heero simply shrugged and told him that there had been a payroll glitch and it would be on the next check. Duo had blinked at that. Normally a company would fix such a gross over sight in a day or two...but two weeks? It was a good thing that Duo had syphoned quite a bit of funds from OZ and the Alliance over the years and put it aside in a special emergency account.
Still, as odd as that sounded; Duo took Heero at his word. The other had never lied to him before...
Then it happened again...and again. It happened four times in four monthes. Heero tried to claim that his account had been hacked, or his debit card has been stolen. Duo felt his suspicion wreched up. Someone STOLE Heero fucking Yuy's card and hacked his account...and he hadn't DONE anything about it? Bullshit. Then to make matters worse; Wufei would call Duo and ask him where Heero was... they worked together. How the hell did Wufei NOT know where Heero was? The chinese man never said anything directly; always dancing around the subject. He had his teeth locked around something but couldn't bring himself to say it straight out. Heero and him were partners; and if nothing else, the chinese man was loyal. Still, Duo could see the conflict in his dark eyes. He had something he wanted to tell Duo; he just couldn't betray Heero.
It was enough to force Duo's hand. For a week he had tried to contact Heero and had only recieved sporatic messages from his spouse. So, Duo did what any self respecting ex-terrorist would do when he was suspicious of his husbands actions. He hacked Heero's accounts, his e-mail, phone records his social networking sites...everything.
And there...in glaring black and white... was the proof. He had suspected... had known deep in his heart... but hadn't wanted to believe it. His husband...Heero... the Perfect Solider... ex-terroritst...savior of the world twice over... was fucking cheating on him. It wasn't even with Relena either... Duo could almost have understood and excused that. He had always known that Heero and Relena had a special connection as well. He could have accepted that Heero had gone to her... but no... this was some barely eighteen bleach blonde wanna-be barbie. A girl half his age. Duo had been caught between cripling pain and a fury like he had never experienced before. Then to make matters worse... the latest transactions on his bank account were from Earth; there was hotel rooms, and tickets to amusement parks, and all the other things that Duo and Heero had talked about doing on vacation when he took some time off. Vacation. The bastard had gone and taken his vacation with someone else!
Duo even went as far as to call Commander Une and ask her about Heero; playing the worried spouse. Une was surprised; to Duo's horror the Commander told him that she had thought they were seperated. That for the last month Yuy had told everyone that they had been seperated; and the blonde girl had been picking him up from work.
Duo felt something break in his chest as Une spoke; suddenly the last year fell away to reveal a mountain of lies Heero had told. As he had hung up with Une; Quatre had called; his space heart having sensed Duo's blinding pain. Duo told him everything; sobbing brokenly to his friend. News had spread fast as bad news tends to do. At first; everyone seemed to be on Duo's side. They were all very supportive and understanding.
Then... there was a shift. Duo wasn't sure when it happened. Or why. Recently he suspected. He had agreed to come on this mini vacation on Earth with Quatre, Trowa, Wufei and even Relena... Then suddenly, Heero was there too. Quatre, Trowa and even Relena were all giving Duo odd looks that verged on hostile. When he spoke to them, their voices were clipped and words monosyllable. Duo didn't know what the hell had happened; but if he had known that Yuy would be on this little vacation too... he would never have fucking come.
He still couldn't figure out why his friends would include Heero... especially since they knew how hard it would be for Duo. Just seeing him again was like someone was trying to carve his heart out with a spoon. Duo closed his eyes as the familar wave of pain crashed over him. He shoved the annoying emotion down, shoved it into a box in the back of his mind and slammed the lid and locked it. It wouldn't do for him to alert Quatre to the fact that he was upset. The young mans spaceheart could be such an annoyance at times. He had never wanted his friends to choose between Heero and him; he knew that they were Heero's friends as much as they were Duo's... but still. It would have been nice for a bit of warning. The vacation had gone from being an exciting change of pace... to an awkward painful nightmare.
They arrived at the camp ground a little after nightfall. They were right on the edge of the river, overlooking the water. They had been to this vacation spot once before a few years back; a nice peaceful place along the Illinios river in Tahlequah Oklahoma. They pitched the tents by the light of the Tahoe's headlights. Duo didn't speak; simply going through the motions of setting up one tent with Wufei, while Heero and Quatre growled and snarled at each other over the other tent. Duo shook his head; he couldn't understand how two people who could plan out how to destroy a base and plan for any contingency, who could master the ZERO system... where having trouble pitching a freaking tent?
Perhaps it was the fact that he had lived out on the street for most of his life; having a tent was a godsend. Or perhaps it was just because he was one of those people who once he did an action once, he could repeat it over and over again. Heero and Quatre both had photographic memories... Duo on the other hand could only remember by doing. If he took it apart, he could put it back together. In any case, he had his tent up and ready, with the rain shields in place before Quartre and Heero even had theirs half way up.
He tossed his stuff in and started airing up the air mattress. After what seemed like hours Heero and Quatre finished. A fire was set up and lite... then we sat around the campfire. To say the atmoshpere was TENSE was an understatement. Duo was systematically ignored by everyone. When he tried to make conversation... when he tried to comment... anything... his 'friends' would fall silent and just look at him.
It didn't take him long to get the hint. He wasn't wanted. He didn't know why the hell they had invited him if they were going to fucking act like that. It wasn't like HE did anything wrong.
Annoyed and hurt... Duo stormed away from camp.
I hear your voice on the wind
And I hear you call out my name
Duo moved silently through the dark forest; his heart heavy. Still he kept the emotion tightly under lock and key. He had learned a long time ago to shield from Quatre's ability; though every now and then his control slipped. He came to a stop as a wave of crippling pain washed over him; tears pricked his vision and a scream built in his throat. Suddenly a cool breeze slide through the forest, rustling the leaves. Determined to not cried, he forced himself to listen to the whisper of the trees...to concentrate on something other then his pain.
"Listen, my child," you say to me "I am the voice of your history
Be not afraid, come follow me
Answer my call, and I'll set you free"
Thunder rolled overhead and the scent of rain suddenly filled his head. A sense of peace decended on him; washing away the pain and sadness. He listened to the forest around him, revealing in the scents and sounds. He loved the Earth from the moment he set foor upon her soil he had felt a connection to it. He leaned down and stripped off his boots and socks. It probably wasn't wise to be walking around the woods at night bare foot; but he had this sudden undenable urge to connect with the world around him.
I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain I
am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice, I will remain
He moved though the forest more slowly now falling back on skills ingrained in him from years of living on the street. Back on L2 he had to be always aware of his surroundings, even something as simple as a subtle shift in the air could mean the difference between life and death. Memories long since buried floated to the surface... Solo smiling at him; his friend, mentor, brother encouraging him to use his own brand of gift. From a young age Duo had always been able to sense the subtle energies of the world around him. It was because of this ability that he eventually got the name Shinigami. He could sense death, could see the phatom moving through the world like a spector. He smiled to himself as his mind drifted back... he not only could SEE the spector of Death. He had actually met one of the bloody bastards once. He was just a child then, right after the Maxwell Church incident, he had knelt over the broken body of Sister Helen when he sensed the spector. With all the smoke and tears; he couldn't see the creature... but he could FEEL it in the slight displacment of air. He felt the cold touch along his cheek; cry not, the wind seemed to whisper, I will take care of her my son.
I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone
The dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow
Ne'er do I sleep thoughout all the cold winter long
I am the force that in springtime will grow
A similar peace had decended on him then as did now. As he let the ancient energy of the forest and mountains sink into him he felt something crack and unfurl inside. All through the war he had called himself Shinigami...the God of Death. He had believed it in the deepest part of his soul. Touched by Death, he could see the energy of those around him and he had a knack for reading it. After the wars though, he had distanced himself from that part of himself. Yuy had wanted nothing more then to be normal and forget their past. Duo had followed his lead, loving him beyond measure; he had shoved everything down deep into his being and locked it tight.
I am the voice of the past that will always be
Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields
I am the voice of the future, bring me your peace
Bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal
Now, in the presence of the spirits of the trees and over looked by the ancient mountains... he felt that long dormant part of him unfurl and awake once more. It was time to stop pretending that he was something he was not. He was Duo Maxwell...street rat, theif, hacker, mechanic, ex-Gundam pilot, a former terrorist... He was Shinigami. It was time to stop trying to hide who and what he was.
I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice
Duo opened his eyes and once again saw the soft glow of all the living things around him. Tentativily he reached out and brushed his fingers along the edge of the soft light coming from around one of the trees. He could feel the age of the tree, the struggles it had had, the things it had survived. He could feel its life pulse against his hand; and with a strange certainty...he knew that he could help it grow...or snuff it out. He let his senses flow outward; he could feet every step a family of deer took off to his right, the scampering of the field mouse near his feet as it moved through the leaves. He could sense every clever paw movement of the raccoons hunting on the river bank and feel the snake glide across the water surface.
I am the voice of the past that will always be
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice of the future
I am the voice, I am the voice
I am the voice, I am the voice
Once again he felt the cool touch across his face, same as he did all those years ago...and heard the soft whisper of the wind...I am your past, your present, and your future; I am life and death...I am darkness and light. Welcome home my child, you are never alone...He smiled for the first time in several weeks as he lost himself in the pulse of the Earth around him; letting the Mother's energy flow through him washing away all of his pain and loneliness.
Authors Note: Ok I have no idea where this came from. It has been banging around in my head all day. I actually have another chapter written that I may type up and post later. Let me know what you think...
On a side note... for those who are still waiting for chapters for my other works... they've been put on hiatis... my muse for those stories left... and another has yet to replace her. In other words... I life got in the way and I completely forgot where I was going with those stories. One day I might pick them up again..
Anyway; please let me know what you think of this fic... I know it's odd.
~Nyx