Disclaimer: I own nothing of Gundam Wing or it's characters…just my new shoes!
Warnings: Shonen-ai, angst galore, little violence, language
Notes: Credit and thanks must go to Aciel Skadi and Slate for giving me this idea to use. A big thank you to them also for helping me to get over this writer's block.
Dragon Ashes
The dark haired young man glanced at the headlines of the major newspapers before choosing The Independent's, the heading about arms inspections in the Middle East catching his attention.
Wufei took the newspaper to the old Asian man who was the cashier of the small cornershop, who was interrupted from reading his own newspaper.
Wufei waited as the man rang up the price and looked through the glass window to the busy street outside. The clouds had looked dark when he had come inside the shop, and now it was beginning to rain…again.
The Chinese man had been in this city for 3 months, and he was sure it hadn't gone one week without raining at least once. It was starting to give the feeling of being a drowned rat.
"45 pence please" The shopkeeper asked, breaking Wufei from his thoughts. He paid, picking up the newspaper and heading to the doorway, standing in it for a moment contemplating on if he could use the newspaper as protection from the hardening rain…but it was no fun trying to read a broadsheet turning to pulp.
Wufei joined the crowds, heading down the road to the bus stop, tucking the newspaper under his mid thigh length black woollen coat. He dodged the people, ducking to prevent his eyes from being gouged out by umbrellas.
He reached the end of the road, and his bus stop and prepared to wait in the shelter, for his bus, that as always seemed to appear when they wanted to and in 3s.
Wufei took out his newspaper from under his coat, and started reading the front page. He was engrossed in an article about a crises the agriculture industry this country was experiencing when the world was thrust into grey matt of confusion for Wufei.
After the white stars in front of eyes had cleared, Wufei could see a dark, surrounded by the grey sky, water splashing on his face. His head hurt where the pavement had hit it, and the wind knocked out of him. He also noted that someone was trying to choke him.
Wufei's dulled reflexes finally kicked in, and he twisted the wrists of his attacker, breaking the death grip. Next was to twist so he was on top of his attacker, and in control of the situation.
The attacker struggled as Wufei held his wrists to the ground. The dark haired man blinked, trying to make his vision clear.
After several seconds it did, and the Chinese man looked down, at the thrashing person beneath him on the wet pavement.
He saw violet eyes glaring at him, teeth gritted in rage and he knew instantly who it was. Duo Maxwell.
Sensing the recognition, Duo stopped his struggle and looked into those dark eyes.
"So you still remember me you fuck." He spat at his former victim, now restrainer. There was a crowed of people standing in a circle, casually spectating at the pair on the floor.
Wufei's lips were parted, from the second shock of the day, trying to form words but failing miserably.
Duo growing impatient at the lack of response said, "Can you get the hell off me."
Without delay Wufei rolled off and got to his feet, and offered his hand to Duo. The chestnut haired young man ignored the offer and got to his feet, brushing his leather jacket and tight black jeans off. They were now both wet from struggling on the floor, and were continuing to get wetter by standing in the rain.
Wufei pushed a few strands of black hair away and eyed the American who looked back ready to murder.
The few seconds that passed felt like hours, when Wufei felt conscious of the audience, "please come with me." He reached out with his hand to tug on Duo's jacket, but the arm was sharply pulled out of distance.
"What makes you think I want to go anywhere with you."
Wufei stood up straight to his full height, feeling this was worse than any Gundam fight he'd had "Because…I need to talk to you. To explain a few things…"
Duo considered the proposition for a few seconds, eyed the spectators around him and nodded. "Wufei this had better be good…But I know I'll never be able to forgive you for what you done."
The once proud dragon bowed his head…he knew what Duo was talking about…because he could never forgive himself either.
Like Moses and the Red Sea, the crowed parted as Wufei walked back up the street he'd come up earlier, hearing Duo's boots clank heavily behind him, but not daring to look behind him.
It was still raining, and his hair was getting waterlogged, the strands that had escaped the ponytail dripping rainwater.
After a few turns, he was in front of the steps to his house. He proceeded up them and put the key in the lock, the door opened.
Wufei stepped inside, and kept the door open for Duo, who indignantly crossed the thresh hold. The dark haired young man closed the door, and the other pushed past him, as if unable to be so close to him.
The Chinese man took off his wet woollen coat and hung it up, revealing his dark grey dress trousers and black shirt. He looked to the door that led to the living area of his first floor apartment, know that was where Duo had gone. Steeling himself he went in there.
The room was sparse, just a couple of 2 seated couches and a low table in the corner. Duo had taken his jacket off, and positioned himself on one of the couches, leaning back heavily, one leg folded beneath him. Wufei noticed the American was busy pinching tobacco from a bag, spreading it out onto a small white piece of paper.
The violet eyes acknowledged Wufei as the paper was brought to his lips, and then finished the cigarette by sealing the paper edges with his fingers.
He placed the end in his mouth, and as Duo searched for a lighter he shot at Wufei, "Are you gonna talk or are you just going to fucking well stand there."
Wufei nodded, and sat on the couch opposite from Duo, sitting cross-legged on the soft cushions.
Duo had found his lighter and was taking a deep drag from his cigarette as he stared at Wufei, expecting him to start.
Wufei clenched his fingers tightly in his lap before beginning "I'm very sorry about what I done."
Duo gave a small bitter laugh as he exhaled, "Don't even bother trying to apologise. You insult both me and Heero by doing so." With this he flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette, not caring that it landed on the beech flooring.
There was an uncomfortable silence, as Duo took a few more puffs of his cigarette. The braided man broke the silence; "Do you even realise what you done? The aftermath?"
Wufei could no longer keep his gaze on the young man, and let his eyes drop to the floor. "I realise that I must have hurt you…"
He was sharply cut off by Duo, "Hurt?! You just hurt us? If you think that's all you done, then you're a more worthless bastard than I thought. You done far more than that." With that he flicked the cigarette end onto the floor and crushed it with the heel of his boot.
Wufei forced himself to look into Duo's violet eyes, which only showed hatred and contempt. The Chinese man swallowed before saying, "At the time it seemed like the best thing to do."
"We loved you…we thought you loved us too, but when you left you showed us that wasn't true."
Wufei looked pained at those words, "No…that's not true. I cared for you both deeply."
Duo narrowed his eyes at Wufei, "I don't believe you. If you loved us you wouldn't have left like that. Heero and I just woke up one morning and you were gone, no note, message, clue, nothing."
There was a pause as Duo looked to the window, absorbing the sound of the rain against the glass before continuing "The only thing we could think was you didn't really care for us, just used us as your play things. Having two boys to fuck must have been nice 'ey Wufei?"
Wufei felt his throat tighten at what the man opposite to him was saying, and responded "No, it wasn't like that at all."
"Then why Wufei, why did you abandon us?"
"Because…" The dark haired man tried to separate his thoughts from his emotions, "Three's a crowd. I didn't want to become between you and Heero. For anything to happen because of me would have been unjust, I wanted to guarantee your happiness"
The braided man once again held his eyes onto his former lover, "Jesus Fuck, I don't know what gave you that idea. You done a billion times more damage than what could have ever happened if you'd stayed."
Wufei took it in before saying quietly, "Even to this day I…love you both still."
"Don't you dare say that!" Duo screamed, "You have no right to!"
The Chinese man frowned and nodded; "I know…but it's true…please tell me, is Heero okay?" Duo's look hardened to that of pure bitterness.
"He's dead."
The world to Wufei seemed to draw in, to a point that it dwindled on the edge of little worth.
Duo continued, "Heero killed himself because you left. He said he didn't feel complete."
Those words pushed everything into nothingness for Wufei. He swayed, wondering if this was going to be the first time in his life he'd passed out from just mere words.
"I came home, and found him in the bath, blood everywhere. He blew his brains out, said in the note that he hoped the tiles wouldn't stain."
Wufei's inner walls of support crumbled, hot tears blurred his vision, threatening to tumble down his cheeks. Suddenly he slid off the couch onto the floor. He was on his knees at Duo's feet, pushing his forehead to the hard floor.
"Please forgive me Duo…please…my weakness killed Heero." Wufei felt his head being pulled up roughly by his ponytail, and held there, forced to stare into those violet eyes, bitterness and hate showing.
Moments passed and something unexpected happened for Wufei, Duo kissed him.
The onyx eyes widened in surprise but were then forced shut. The kiss was rough and hard, nothing like the tender kisses of years gone by.
He almost didn't notice the copper taste that was filling his mouth.
Duo pulled away, his lips stained red, still holding onto Wufei's hair, "How can I forgive you…when I'm only a third of what I was…"
He let go of the black hair, and Wufei slumped to the floor. His eyes stared blankly at Duo's silver cross that hung around his neck still, a trickle of blood making it's way from the corner of his mouth to drip onto the dark cotton shirt.
Duo stood, and put on his jacket. Without a word he left the house, and walked down the road in the rain.
Wufei still sat there…the blood and tears silently dripping.
End
Author's Notes:
Isn't that pathetic, I made Wufei live in the city I live in, and read the newspaper I read. After weeks of revising and mock exams (and one night of getting wasted…^-^; ), I've finally managed to recover enough to write and finish a piece of fiction.
Please Read and Review…pretty please? Well I hoped you enjoyed reading this at least.