A/N: ...um...so this is my first GW fanfic and I want to say "please be nice" but I guess you should be rough or I'll never improve upon my writing. This story is going to have both slash and hetero pairings and it will be mainly Duo-centric. Most pairings are going to be pretty obvious from the start. One thing I won't tolerate is negative comments about my pairings of choice, if you're looking for a story with a specific pairing that's not featured in my story, you are welcome to search it out elsewhere. Because this is an AU, the characters will seem OC at first, some way more than others, but I tried to maintain their base personality traits. I've been told at times I have a way of writing characters that are way, way OC but are still so very believable so I hope I was able to pull that off in this fic.
Warning: Drug and alcohol use in a manner one might consider condoning, swearing, possibly some severe angst, violence (with a good probability of being graphic), issues some would classify "adult", original character usage, I don't typos, dark overtones, shonen-ai (ie. the coupling of two boys), and implied bi-sexuality. There are probably other things I should mention, like sex, but I'm not sure if they'll be in this story so...just to be on the safe side...sex. And all the other goodies that justify an "M" rating.
Summary: At school and at home, Duo may as well have not existed until a chance meeting on a bridge draws him deep into the life of a boy called 'Dragon' where the demons of his past break free.
Flying Downward
Prologue: I have the same dream every night…
The pale of the moon reflected off the water below like an ominous mist disturbed only by the shadow of a young man high above. It was late in the night, most of the town's residents cozy asleep in their beds at home. In this area, there were no streetlights. And if it were not for the full moon, the lone boy would be in complete darkness. To one side of the bridge was black pavement and manmade concrete. To the other side, nothing but dirt and ground. To the first side lay town, small and quiet. It was on the latter side, that the trees grew thick together, creeping up almost to the edge of the cliff that cascaded in a heavy slope to the still water below. Those trees beyond became a forest that breathed of wild and life. It was called Old Green by the locals.
The bridge itself was made of stone, the railing wood and rope, and it creaked near thirty feet above the river down below. For a hundred years it had stood and it would see a hundred more. It had been painted earlier that year but said paint was already beginning to peel. The paint never lasted long, as though the wood beneath loathed it and shed it as a foreign skin.
It was atop the railing that the solitary young boy stood. His arms were outstretched, as though preparing to fly, his soft featured face looked upward, his eyes were closed. His skin was fair and his hair a golden brown. Long bangs brushed his forehead, the rest of his hair dangling down his spine near mid-thigh, twisted in a thick braid. Despite a chill breeze, he was dressed in blue jeans and a black tee-shirt. His feet were bare.
There was a calm about the boy. A calm he rarely experienced. He seemed oblique, lost in the oblivion of his swirling emotions. And all was silent.
And suddenly, there was a feeling prickling the back of his neck. A heat rising up to his face beneath his chilled skin. The boy's eyes flashed open and he spun round, his braid whipping about his body in the motion.
Black. Nothing but ebony black. Black eyes. Darker than the dead of space. But so pure, the world around reflected in those spheres. Black hair. Blacker than a raven's feathers. Blacker than the mark of death. Pulled back in a small ponytail, loose strands flitting about a bronze face, cheeks dabbed with light pink. Lips a natural pout, lightly pressed together in a stoic frown.
For several skipped heartbeats, their eyes were locked. They were connected. Between them passed so much and so little at the same time. Fear, anger, confusion, loss.
Save me. Their hearts both pounded one.
The dark boy turned. He walked away. The connection was broken. Heat inflamed the one left behind.
