Wow, it's been a while since I put up something for the GW fans! For first-timers, I have to tell you that this is a rewrite/repost of an earlier story of mine. I kept the same title, so welcome back to those of you who found it again. When I said last November I'd be posting this again "sometime next year", I didn't really think it would take almost a year… But it has. The delay was largely due to me coming up with new plot points that I finally decided were completely unnecessary. I've actually had this finished (up to the point where I stopped before) for a while now. So, new readers and old friends, I hope you enjoy!

I do not own Gundam Wing.

Fire and Ice

And so the world shall perish in fire and ice.

--Chapter One: Sweet Sacrifice--

Usually Heaven was a peaceful, happy place. That was the point, wasn't it? To be rewarded for all of the trials and tribulations one suffered through in life with an eternity of bliss? That may have been the point, but it really only applied to the humans who became angels. Those who were born in Heaven were open to tragedy, and they had certainly seen the worst of it this time since…

Quatre shook his head. Angels weren't supposed to even think about the Great Fall. It was far from the best topic for reflection on the eve of his trial for murder. The young angel shifted, staring out his cell's single window at the moon, which, from what he'd heard, was much larger when seen from Heaven than seen from Earth.

"This is why the human-born should be kept away from us!" Dorothy Catalonia had cried upon hearing the news. Quatre had had the misfortune of being there when she learned of Relena Peacecraft's death. Her reaction wasn't surprising, really; Dorothy had, after all, been Relena's partner. Her family, like the Peacecrafts, was well thought of amongst the angelic hierarchy. So of course she sided with the others on this.

Milliardo Peacecraft and his partner, Lucrezia Noin, were against the punishment proposed by their fellow "high" angels. Quatre didn't even know what the punishment was; he knew only that most of the angels were in favor of it. Milliardo was currently being ignored, much to his chagrin. It was interesting, really, since he was Relena's older brother. One would think that his opinion would matter in this case, but apparently not.

Quatre really didn't care anymore.

The Archangels had most likely already made up their minds. The trial would not change anything.

--

Quatre had been young when he met Duo. Young, slightly naïve, and completely innocent. Physically they'd both resembled children, since angels grow slowly. All angels born in Heaven were assigned a partner at a certain age, but Quatre had been just a bit younger than most because of his status as the only male heir of his family line. Usually the partners were both high angels, as the Heaven-born angels were called, with few exceptions. Quatre didn't really know what that meant then. He was taken into a room with five other angels around his age. The others introduced themselves, most with confidence.

"Shira Listarin," a girl with dark hair and eyes offered.

"Asato Kurosaki." He was fair and green-eyed.

"Mehara Persnickity" was a platinum blond with brown eyes.

"Desmond Byre" was good-looking and seemed to be the type that not only knew it but enjoyed lording it over other people.

"Duo Maxwell."

The last name was given by a softer voice with a barely detectable lisp. Quatre, who at the time had been painfully shy, summoned just enough courage to look up at the last speaker. The fifth angel appeared to be only a year or so older than the blond, with long brown hair in a braid and big blue-violet eyes. Quatre gave him a tiny smile, and Duo responded with a huge grin. The older angel overseeing the group told Quatre to choose someone to be his partner. Quatre chose Duo without hesitation. So it began.

--

Quatre had assumed Duo was a high angel, born in Heaven like he was. It was almost a year into their partnership, during which both had grown considerably, before he learned the truth.

Duo was once a human, living on the Earth the One had created. He had been born into part of what humans called the Roman Empire, as the youngest of a poor family's eight children. His family couldn't afford to keep all of their children, so they had married off his five sisters and sold six-year-old Duo into slavery to keep him off the streets. Duo ended up there anyway two years later after a plague took not only his master but also his best friend, Solo. At age twelve he was caught up again, this time as a house slave for some senator. Another plague when he was seventeen ended Duo's brief time on Earth, and he was reborn in Heaven as an angel.

He told Quatre all of this calmly, describing the situations and details in a matter-of-fact tone, as though it was not unusual and only to be expected of life on Earth.

That was the first time Quatre cried in front of Duo.

--

Like all young angels, they were taught the whys and ways of their world and of the One. They learned of the world's Creation and its history since then. They learned of the good in the world, and they learned of the not-so-good. Duo had been particularly fascinated by the brief discussion on vampires. Quatre couldn't understand his interest, and it had sparked one of their few serious arguments.

"They're filthy creatures, no better than demons," Quatre said firmly.

"But they are better than demons, because they aren't completely evil!" Duo retorted.

Quatre rolled his eyes. "They live by destroying the lives of others. That sounds pretty evil to me, Duo."

"Quatre, not all of them kill to survive. Weren't you listening in class? Some of them just drink a little blood at a time from several victims, so they can survive without ending another person's life."

"Note the word 'victims', Duo. Besides, the teacher only told us that because you had to be all morbid and ask. Vampires are just too much like demons."

"But they aren't the same thing, Quatre," Duo insisted."

His partner sighed. "Can we just not have this argument and agree to disagree? Please? I'm starting to get a headache."

Duo made a face. "Fine."

Most of their arguments ended with Quatre getting a headache.

--

Partnership between two angels was important. Partners were supposed to be responsible for each other's actions. If one messed up, both were to be punished. But Duo was gone. Only Quatre would receive the punishment for his partner's misdeeds.

He waited now, seated before the Archangels, to hear their sentence. To his right sat the heads of the families held in the highest regard, though Milliardo Peacecraft was not among them. Quatre didn't care about social status; to him the Heaven-born and human-born were all the same now. It wasn't an opinion that needed to be voiced.

Gabriel, leader of the Archangels, stood up, silencing the council room. His sober expression indicated that the Archangels had reached a decision.

"Quatre Raberba Winner, heir of the Winner family of the High Angels, you are hereby declared, in the absence of your partner, guilty of the murder of Relena Peacecraft."

Quatre sighed. It wasn't fair, this bureaucracy and the constant shifting of blame. Nothing was fair anymore.

"Your former partner is renounced as one of the Fallen, and never again shall his name be spoken in the realm of Heaven."

Well, that was to be expected. Duo had joined the side of the Enemy, and of course Gabriel was too high and mighty to call the Fallen what they really were: demons.

"Your family is now in disgrace."

Quatre frowned slightly but said nothing. He understood the blame falling on him alone, but his family should not have been affected. His sisters would hate him for this.

"You will be stripped of your wings and title, regarded below the level of a human-born, and cast down to Earth. That is our decision."

Gabriel sat down, and those gathered to Quatre's right applauded.

Quatre paled. His wings? Few convicted angels truly recovered from the loss of their wings, and none had ever earned them back. As for being cast down from Heaven… they might as well send him straight to Hell.

-Five hundred years later-

Quatre stared at the woman standing in the center of the living room of his apartment, shocked not by the white wings on her back that she so casually flexed, but by the news she brought.

"You're sure? The Key to the Gates of Hell is sealed inside the soul of a human?"

Noin nodded. "A human named Wufei Chang. He lives in this city, and Gabriel should be sending operatives to find him soon. Demons are likely to be sent after him too. If either group finds him before you do… well, that will be the end of it."

Quatre looked down briefly. "What about the other one?"

Noin sniffed disdainfully. "It was dangerous enough to hide the Key to Hell in the soul of a human. Doing the same with the Key to Heaven would have been downright foolish." She noticed the expression on the blond's face. "At least you have your target's name," she told him. "I could lose my own wings for telling you any of this."

He smiled bitterly. "Milliardo would never allow that."

"You saw how they listened to him at your trial. Besides, Milliardo is too busy with his new assignment to defend my actions. I have to leave now, but don't waste this opportunity, Quatre. You won't get another one like it." She vanished.

Quatre lifted himself out of his favorite armchair and went into his tiny kitchen. He pulled the tea-kettle out of a cabinet, filled it with water, and set it on the stove to boil. He had seen much during his five-century exile on Earth. Quatre was not the child he'd been when he lost his wings so long ago.

He still blamed Duo. He lived alone. His sisters had, for the most part, shunned him before his departure, just as the rest of the angels did. He didn't care.

Most of the wingless lived in disgrace, without a second chance of any kind. Now Quatre had the opportunity to retrieve the missing key to the Gates of Hell and regain his dignity along with his wings. This wasn't exactly what he had long hoped for, but it would have to do.

He would get his wings back, no matter what.

--End Chapter One--

And so we begin again. Chapter two will be posted in a week or so, depending on the response to this chapter. If I get more reviews right away, I'll put the next chapter up sooner (hint, hint). Thanks for reading!