Description: Every night Duo dreams of endless blue. Endless blue the same color of Heero's eyes. Every night since he died. 1x2x5 (not a deathfic, sorta)

Rating: T

Stuff: I own neither Gundam Wing nor the Heralds of Valdemar series

Warnings: Same-Sex Relationships, Language, maybe OOC

AN: I have no idea if you stumbled upon this story from my profile, the Gundam Wing category, or the Valdemar category. So I'll give a quick and dirty overview of Gundam Wing at the bottom, and a wall-o-text for Valdemar stuff.

Timeline: Takes place after Endless Waltz for Gundam Wing, and around 25 years or so after the marriage of Queen Selenay and Prince Darenthallis (which hopefully puts this after the Mage Storms trilogy) for Valdemar.

Chapter 1

Brussels, Earth

I awoke to the sound of a key unlocking my front door. I groaned and curled further into the blankets. I was already starting to doze off again when my warm cocoon was mercilessly ripped from me.

I yawned and rolled myself out of bed. I really just wanted to stay there and sleep, but I knew if I didn't get up then he'd make me get up. And I really didn't feel like risking an ice cold water bath.

I don't even glare at him for this anymore.

I shambled my half asleep ass into the bathroom, performed a less-than-elegant move to get my boxers off while not falling on said ass, and tossed them in the general vicinity of the dirty clothes hamper. I turned the faucet on in the shower to let it warm up as I relieved myself at the toilet. I yanked the elastic band from the end of my braid and tossed it on the counter before stepping into the shower. I used my fingers to remove the plaits as the warm water surrounded me.

Blood. So much blood. It can't be his. He's perfect. Not human. Invincible. It can't be his blood!

I physically shake my head to clear my thoughts and reach for the shampoo.

I finished looping the elastic around the end of my braid and dropped the slightly damp hair. I walked over to the now perfectly made bed and started to put on the clothes that had been set out for me.

I made my way to the kitchen. He was just finishing up washing a pan. Without turning to me, he informed me, "Your breakfast is on the table," before placing the newly clean pan in the drying rack and then draining the sink.

I grabbed the paper towel wrapped package off the table as he wiped his hands on a dishtowel. He gave my appearance a once-over, nodded to himself, then headed to the front door. I peeked in the paper towel. Bacon and egg sandwich. I ate the sandwich as Wufei and I walked to work.

Valdemar, Velgarth

A hush came over the Sacred Grove, the various night insects and creatures all falling silent at once. A sudden fog crept over the Grove, coalescing at the center. There was a moment of complete stillness.

Then a warm night breeze blew through the Grove. The night sounds resumed their ode to darkness while an equine figure unfurled his long legs to push himself up onto his four hooves. He snorted through his long nose and shook his mane.

His coat was the same dark as the moonless night sky above.

Brussels, Earth

I sat at my computer quietly typing up my report. Wufei kept glancing my way. I knew I should find it amusing. He use to always tell me to shut up. Now my silence bothers him.

I felt a sudden jolt and gasped. It felt like getting hit with an electric shock. But somehow it also felt like a warm caress.

Wufei's head shoots up to look at me. "Are you ok?"

I growl out a simple, "I'm fine, Fei. Go back to work," as I work to get myself under control. The weird feeling lessened but refused to go away. I concentrated on keeping my breathing even. I didn't know what the weird feeling was, but then I decided I really didn't care. I didn't care about much these days.

I heard people approaching our office and glanced up. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Wufei do the same. Quatre walked into the open doorframe of our office, Trowa quietly trailing behind him.

He sent a beaming smile my way. "Duo! It's good to see you!" Trowa murmured a quiet, "How are you today, Duo?"

I felt a weak smile grace my lips. It was only half faked. Quatre's exuberance was infective. "Better," I responded to Trowa. He gave a simple nod.

Quatre turned a look to Wufei. I don't know why they even bothered with the subtlety. It was obvious they wanted to talk about me; they could just say it out loud.

Wufei stood and went to the small mini-fridge in our office. He pulled out a brown paper bag and a bottle of juice. He set both on my desk in front of me. "Here's your lunch. I'll be back in a bit." Then they all three stepped outside the office and shut the door.

It was times like this that I wondered if they forgot I was a Gundam pilot like the rest of them. They stood in the hallway right there in front of the glass panes dividing our office and the hallway. From the way they stood, Trowa was the only one facing away from me. Wufei and Quatre were slightly facing eachother, but I could still clearly see their faces.

Which meant I could still clearly read their lips.

"How is he really, Wufei?"

"He actually is better. I've been getting him to eat regularly. He's gained back some of the weight he lost. And as you can see, I've gotten him to go back to work too."

"What about…?"

"He's still depressed but I don't think it's that bad anymore. I took him to speak to Dr. Goschel. He can't tell me everything due to confidentiality but since I'm Duo's partner he was able to tell me some. He believes it wasn't an active attempt at suicide. Goschel thinks he just lacked the will to actually do anything."

I knew what they were talking about of course. After the incident, I didn't even want to leave my bed. At first the guys left me alone because they thought I "needed time", that was until Quatre's annoying little Space Heart empathy trick apparently felt me "fading" according to him. He and Trowa were all the way on L4 at the time so he called up Wufei in a panic. Wufei promptly came over to my apartment, and after receiving no response from knocking, he went and kicked in the door. He found me where I had been since I first got back to the apartment, curled up on my side of the bed, staring at the empty space beside me. He picked me up and rushed me to the hospital where they quickly hooked me up to all sorts of IVs to treat my severe dehydration and malnutrition.

Quatre shuddered. "I don't want to see him like that ever again."

Wufei gave him a determine look. "Nor do I."

Valdemar, Velgarth

A call went out from all the Companions, waking up all their Heralds from the depths of slumber. A crowd quickly formed around the Companion's Field. The crowd parted as Queen Lyra and King Kris made their way to the source of the commotion, Dowager-Queen Selenay and Prince-Consort Daren slowly following behind. There, among the white bodies of the Companions, was one of complete black.

Lyra sent a mental call to her Companion and brother simultaneously. :Did a horse escape and somehow get past the fence into Companion's Field?:

She could "feel" the mental snort from her Companion, Kelwar. :I can't believe you would call a Companion a horse.:

Her brother cut in, :But he's all black! Companions are never anything other than white. How could he be a Companion?:

Her brother's Companion, Rothtur, was the one who responded this time. :We don't know. Companions are white due to the influence of magic, but he's different. Instead of absorbing magic, letting it pass into and through his being like other Companions, he's somehow doing something to it. Sending it elsewhere.:

:Elsewhere?:

:We do not know. We suspect only he knows.:

:Then why not ask him?:

:We have. The black Companion responds to none of us.:

Brussels, Earth

After work, Wufei walked back to my apartment with me as per our now usual pattern. He let himself in and went straight to my kitchen, where he promptly started cooking dinner.

We ate together in silence. Though, I was starting to notice that the silence was becoming more companionable and less awkward. I didn't know what was causing the shift.

He washed the few dishes used for dinner and set them in the drying rack. He turned to me. "I'll see you again tomorrow. Sleep well, Duo." And then left to head to his own apartment.

I made my way up to the bedroom. I stripped down to just my boxers and curled up on one side of the bed. I reached my hand out and brushed the cool sheets on the empty side of the bed, wishing they were occupied, before closing my eyes. Then I fell into the dream.

It was an endless expanse of blue. The same color as his eyes. There was nothing there other than me and the blue. You would think it would be cold or lonely but it was neither. The blue surrounded me in warmth and comfort. I wanted to drown forever in that blue.

I awoke to the sound of a key unlocking my front door. I rolled onto my back. Last night the dream was slightly different. It had always been the same before. Night after night, no change. Last night though, it was somehow more. More blue, more vivid, more warm. Simply more. And I also felt like there was a slight tug. Something pulling or merely urging me in a particular direction. There had never really been direction before in the endless blue, but now there was a goal.

What did it mean?

Valdemar, Velgarth

It had been a week since the black Companion appeared and yet he still had yet to speak with anyone. The Fields were constantly surrounded by gawkers to see the first ever non-white Companion. The trainees of all the collegiums laughed and joked among themselves. It had almost become something of an impromptu holiday.

The air was quite the opposite in the private meeting room of the monarchs.

"Sister, is what you said true?" Queen Lyra looked to Princess Elspeth, hoping for her to negate what she had just proclaimed.

"Unfortunately it is. The magic of the land has somehow lost progress. Before I left for the meeting with Hardorn, the magic had just started to gather. I had half expected to see the formation of lines by the time I returned. Not ley-lines for sure, but smaller lines that would eventually grow."

King Kris started to pace the room. "You think it's the new Companion?"

"I believe so, yes. He seems to be funneling the magic from the land. I would say it's just the same as when a Companion lends power to their Chosen or a lifebonded pair sharing power amongst themselves. But you say the Companion is unbonded?"

"As far as we know." Talia looked grim. "Rolan has spoken with the rest of the Companions and assures me that the new Companion has not met closely with any humans. A few of the non-Herald trainees have tried to get close, in hopes they would be Chosen by the strange Companion, but he shies away from anyone getting near."

Lyra looked around the room. "And no progress on figuring out where the magic is going?"

"I've tried to trace the magic, but any time I get near it starts to drain me as well," Elspeth spoke wearily. "Wherever it's going, the spell must be huge. Even with magic being much less now after the Mage Storms, that Companion has been gathering magic constantly for days now. That is, if the Companion is even gathering it for a spell, but I can't see any other reason you'd want to collect magic."

Kris stopped his pacing. "But Companions can't cast spells. Can they?"

"No, they can't. But whatever, or more likely whoever, he is sending the magic to probably can."

Brussels, Earth

Of course the moment Dr. Goschel cleared me for active duty, Commander Une assigned Wufei and I a mission. And of course she knew that once I read the mission dossier I would be unable to refuse. Seems some upstart rebel faction got it into their head to kidnap a bunch of kids to try to train them into soldiers.

I'd seen what the result of that was.

I worked on the mission non-stop. Wufei started to worry about me focusing too much, but he didn't need to. He still made sure I ate, and I got plenty of sleep. I wouldn't miss my chance to drown in the warm blue.

It took Wufei and I far longer than I would have liked to find where the fuckers were keeping the kids. Once we did, we assembled two small teams and geared up. We made record time to the warehouse.

One team stormed the place. Luckily it seemed the rebels were more interested in trying to run than in fighting back. Our second team was positioned outside on round-up duty. Everything was going smoothly. We'd only had minor injuries by the time we found where the kids were being kept.

Then shit went to hell.

One of the guys opened the door. I heard the quiet snap sound and knew he'd just broke a trip wire. I pushed the guy aside and ran in the room. In the corner was a small bomb, and by small I mean won't take out a city block, but will certainly take out a good chunk of the building. And I could tell I wouldn't be able to disarm it in time.

"Shit! Fei! Get the kids out! Take the East entrance! The rest of you help him!" Our team ran into the room and started to corral the kids. I ran over to the bomb in the corner and delicately detached it from the wall.

"Duo, what are you doing?"

I ignored Wufei and pressed the button on my earpiece, connecting me to all the members of both our teams. "I've got a hot potato. Heading West. Clear out!"

Wufei started to sound frantic. "Duo!"

"Sorry, Fei. Make sure the kids are safe." I took the bomb and ran the opposite way from the kids, and hopefully Wufei.

Well, at least this is a pretty awesome way to go. I let out a sigh of relief as I heard Wufei's 'all clear' come through my radio.

Heero, I want to be with you.

Valdemar, Velgarth

Herald-Mage Elspeth had spent the last month pouring over book after book and still was no closer to understanding what was going on with the strange Companion. She was just about to accept Darkwind's offer of adjourning to the bedroom where he would 'help her relax' when she felt the sudden use of power. The spell's signature felt vaguely familiar. It felt like "A gate!" She jumped from the seat, running out of her and Darkwind's quarters, heading to the Companion's Field.

Brussels, Earth

I felt a sudden surge of that strange electric caress feeling I'd been experiencing for the past month. In my surprise, I dropped the bomb. Well, at least it seems its not one of those super touchy kind.

Suddenly I felt like something gripped my stomach and yanked backwards. I fell on my ass. My hands touched grass. Wait. Grass? I gave a quick look around. I was no longer in the complex the rebels had been using as a base. I was now in a lightly wooded grass field. Then my eyes made contact with those eyes.

Heero!?

I felt myself drown in the warm blue.

Valdemar, Velgarth

Many other Heralds and mages joined Elspeth on her run to the Fields. By the time they reached the location, the spell had already passed. They saw the black Companion nestled up to a boy who appeared to be about the age of 18. Both were unconscious.

Brussels, Earth

Wufei watched as the western half of the building collapsed. "No…" He pressed the button on his earpiece. "Duo? Duo!? Respond! Duo! You can't be dead! DON'T YOU FUCKING DIE ON ME! DUO!" He screamed into his microphone until he was hoarse. At some point he fell to his knees. He faintly registered the sounds of sirens and the bustle of people around him. A few tried to talk to him but he ignored them. He simply stared at the last place he'd seen Duo.

Some time passed. It could have been minutes, hours, or even days. Wufei didn't care. He just suddenly found himself with a warm hand clasped on his shoulder and a smaller blond hugging him. His hoarse voice rasped out, "Quatre. Trowa. Duo, he… he..."

Quatre ran a hand over his hair. "Shh… We're here now. We'll take care of everything."

Wufei buried his face in Quatre's shirt, and cried for the second time in his life.

Valdemar, Velgarth

I groaned as I came to. My head was killing me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. White bedsheets. White walls. Complete lack of decoration. Yep, definitely a hospital.

The door opened and a young woman entered wearing… green robes? She gave me a disarming smile. "So! How are you feeling today?" I just stared at her. I assumed the lyrical sounds that she had just made were words, but they certainly weren't Standard. Nor were they any language I'd ever heard before.

Her face shifted into a slightly pouty frown. "Did you hear me? Can you understand me?"

"Lady, I have no fucking clue what you're saying." She just stared at me for a bit and then turned to leave. It was then that I suddenly remembered what happened just before I lost consciousness. "Wait! Where's Heero!?"

She turned back to me, a faint crease in her brows. "I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're saying."

I started to get up. She obviously wasn't going to be any help. I'd have to find Heero on my own.

"Lay down! You're still healing!" She came over and tried to push me back against the bed.

"No! Heero! I have to find Heero!" My movements started to get frantic. More of the green-clad hospital employees entered the room and helped hold me down. "Heero!"

"What's going on here?"

"I don't know! He can't seem to understand me and I don't understand him. He just suddenly became frantic!"

"Let me try." :Stop:

I froze for a moment. Am I hearing voices in my head? I shook my head and started trying to get free of the orderlies again.

"I think he heard me but he didn't respond."

"Maybe he doesn't know how?"

"Hmm. Good point." :Think a response at me.:

Ok, so yeah, definitely hearing voices in my head. So, what makes you more crazy: voices in your head or responding to voices in your head? I figured it certainly couldn't hurt anything at this point. :Heero! Where's Heero!? I have to find Heero!:

A few of the orderlies winced. "Yeah. The boy definitely has MindSpeech. And he's loud." :Who is Heero?:

:Blue eyes! Endless blue eyes!:

The orderlies that had winced earlier started to chuckle. "He must have bonded with the black Companion. Would explain why he's acting like any other unruly Herald." :If you calm down, we'll let you be with Heero.:

I instantly went still. The orderlies stopped holding me down.

"The rest of you go ahead and leave. I've got this." All the orderlies except one left the room. It was a young man remaining. He looked at me and I heard the voice continue in my head. :Alright Herald-Trainee, follow me and I'll lead you to Heero.:

Was it his voice in my head? This was becoming confusing. Maybe I'm still asleep? But then, if this is a dream, why isn't it blue? I got up from the bed and calmly walked over to the young man wearing light green. He walked over to the door. :This way: I followed him.

Doors lined both sides of the hallway. I saw many of the dark green and light green orderlies bustling about. After a few turns, we made it to a pair of sturdy wooden doors. The young man opened them and we stepped outside. I blinked a few times in the bright sunlight.

He set off in a quick pace and I hurried to keep up. We eventually came to what looked like a stable. The young man in green led me to one of the stalls. I looked in and saw a dark grey horse. I looked all around. I didn't see Heero anywhere. What the hell? I turned back to the man. :Where's Heero?:

He gave me a puzzled look and pointed at the horse. :Isn't that Heero? I know he was black before, but his color started to fade after you came here. No one knows why.:

I gave the guy an incredulous look. :No, that's not Heero. That's a fucking horse! Where's Heero?:

The guy looked flustered. :Calm down. If the Companion isn't Heero then I don't know who you're talking about, but stay calm. You're still healing after the gate backlash. If you get too worked up you may make yourself worse.:

:How can I stay calm! I saw him! He was alive! Now, where the fuck is he!:

:...Duo?:

"Heero!? Where are you!?"

The dark grey horse slowly stood up, wobbling slightly. He turned to face me and I saw the color of his eyes. My own eyes went wide. "Heero?"

The grey horse walked over and nuzzled his face against me. :Duo! It worked! I wasn't sure if it would.:

I just stared for a bit before quietly asking, "Heero, are you a horse?" Did I seriously just ask that? I must've finally lost it. Shinigami's gonna get shipped off to the loony bin finally.

:A Companion actually. Though it does resemble a horse. It was the best I could do to be able to get back to you.:

So, Heero's a horse now. I reached up and placed a hand on 'Heero's' front shoulder. A horse… I mentally slapped myself. Idiot! It's better than him being dead! "That's right!" I smacked Heero on the shoulder. The young man wearing green gave me a look like I'd suddenly gone crazy when he saw me hit my Companion. "You idiot! What the hell were you thinking!? Taking a bullet for me like that! You think I'd be happy you gave your life for me!? Fucking idiot!"

I heard Heero chuckle his small laugh in my head. I remember working so hard to finally get him to laugh like that. :Love, I couldn't just let you die.:

I smashed my face into the side of his warm neck and mumbled, "Don't ever leave me again."

:Never, Love. I'll never leave you again.:

-x-

-Author's Note-

I'd honestly be surprised if anyone bothers to read this story but the idea hit and I felt like making it exist. It's been years since I've read any Valdemar books, so forgive me if I get any part of that world wrong. I rely heavily on wikis so hopefully that'll cover for my rustiness.

So yeah, Heero's a horse-thing. Don't get too worried. I'm not into bestiality.

Gundam Wing Quick and Dirty

Takes place in the future after humans have built and started to live on vast space colonies (called L1 through L5). A war breaks out between the Earth and colonies. Five teenage boys are trained to fight and pilot, using one-manned giant robot battle suits called Gundams. They kick ass. World peace now exists in all of Earth and the colonies. In this forwarded timeline, I had three of the boys, Duo, Heero, and Wufei, join Preventers. Preventers is an organization designed to prevent war. Quatre took over running the family business with help from Trowa.

Valdemar wall-o-text

If I have my timeline right, Selenay is just under 70 and the twins, Lyra and Kris, are around 25. In this forwarded timeline, Selenay "retired", leaving her twins to ascend the throne together (they are NOT married, just co-rulers).

The Sacred Grove is in the Companion's Field in Haven, the capital city of the country Valdemar. Companions who simply appear out of nothing there are rare, special, and called Grove-born.

A Companion is a sentient being that resembles a white horse with silver hooves. Most Companions are reincarnations of Heralds. A Companion will Choose a human. Choosing a human creates a magical bond between the two, generally allowing them to speak to each other mentally, sense each other's wellbeing, and even help funnel power to each other. Humans who are Chosen become Heralds.

Heralds are sort of like the ruling family's jack-of-all-trades corps. They deliver messages, dispense justice, defend the kingdom, teach other Heralds, etc.

Magic in Velgarth exists in all living things and is in the land itself. It sorta trickles into ley-lines and then when ley-lines meet, it forms nodes. (Think water trickling into rivers that meets to form lakes.) During the Mage Storm trilogy it all got messed up though. There were no more ley-lines or nodes, and magic "rained" down upon the land. I figure, if the series is continuing the water reference, then the "raining" magic would thus eventually again trickle into "stream" ley-lines and "lake" nodes.

There are 4 collegiums in Valdemar: Healer, Herald, Bard, and Mage. They are all located in Haven and have overlapping classes. Full healers wear green while trainees wear light green. Full Heralds wear white while trainees wear light gray. Bards wear scarlet while trainees wear light red. Light blue is for students who want to attend classes but are not of any particular collegium. No idea if the Mage Collegium has a set color.