Yami no Megami Part One: The Warning By: Silver Star
For the first time in his life, Duo Maxwell, the infamous pilot of Deathscythe who never shuts up, was quiet. He always knew that the five of them would stay together, possibly for the rest of their lives, and the thought were strengthened as they spend more and more time together. Imagine his surprise when he heard that there would be a new pilot joining them.
"I assume you five are waiting for me," a soft alto voice said, making Duo jump literally 5 feet into the air.
"ACK!!" *Thump* "Itai..."
"Daijoubu, Duo?" Quatre asked worried as the longhaired boy got up.
"Baka." Duo sticks out his tongue childishly at the Wing pilot who uttered the word.
"Ahem," the new pilot said, drawing the five pilot's attention back to him. Duo sank back into silence once more as he remembered the new pilot. There's something about the guy that is very disturbing to him. The others didn't seem to notice.
Wufei's like his usual self, looking disinterested and bored. Quatre is smiling at the guy, polite and friendly. Trowa's standing slightly behind Quatre, with his arm around the smaller boy.
Duo felt a pang of envy at the sight of that but he quickly shoved it to the back of his mind. He's really happy for the two. They've found love in the midst of war, and they won't be alone anymore.
And Heero...Heero is being cold and impassive as usual. Duo had tried everything to bring the cold pilot out, but nothing worked. He looked at the Wing pilot with barely concealed longing. Well, he could always dream...
Duo turned back to the new pilot and shuddered involuntarily. What the hell is wrong with him? Why is he afraid of the new guy? It's the war, he told himself. In war, you can't trust anymore, and even if he is a Gundam Pilot, he's not an exception.
And for a moment, he almost believed himself.
Almost.
"You're Duo Maxwell, aren't you?" Duo started and almost jumped 5 feet into the air again. There's something about the way the boy said his last name that made him suspicious. The boy said it almost as if they were old friends, or as if they knew each other very well. "Pilot of the Gundam Deathscythe, from L2, am I correct?"
"Er, yes," Duo replied uneasily.
"The pilot of Wing Gundam," the boy finished and looked at Heero with cool amethyst eyes. "I know. I am Yamino Megami." Heero's cobalt eyes narrowed.
Duo shifted uneasily as tension thickened. No one missed the reaction Heero had at the new pilot's name. Despite his unease, he couldn't help wonder what the name meant that had gotten such a big reaction out of the normally impassive pilot.
Duo finally decided to break the silence. "Come on, let's go. I'm starving!" he grinned. Although it was forced, it successfully broke the tension. Heero's the first to turn and go. He didn't say anything, he just turned and walked away. Wufei shrugged and followed. Quatre exchanged a worried glance with Trowa, then the two pilots followed after the fast disappearing figures, heads low with discussion.
Duo was the last to go. He turned to call out to the new pilot when he saw that the other boy didn't move.
And he finally realized that the "he" is actually a "she".
Heero watched the girl out of the corner of his eyes carefully. Despite her frail form, and the fact that she's a girl, he could feel the power in those hands, and the knowledge in those amethyst eyes.
Amethyst. Just like Duo's.
With a start and a curse that he hadn't seen it sooner, he realized that the girl had a startling resemblance to Duo. Further inspection of her made him realize why he, and the rest of them, never realized that she looked like Duo.
For one thing, her face was completely neutral, the total opposite of the American pilot of Deathscythe, who couldn't hide anything even if his life depended on it. While Duo's amethyst eyes flashed with life, the girl's amethyst eyes were cold and dead...almost exactly like Heero's own eyes.
The other, and the most important, reason was that there was no braid. The girl's hair was very short, compared to what Duo has. Her hair ended just below her chin, and there was no ribbons, bows, or anything like what most girls seemed to like. Unlike Duo's hair, which seemed to curl inward at the end, her hair was sharp and straight, giving her a professional and dangerous look that made gang members think twice before trying to jump her. Trying, is the key word here. Heero didn't think anyone had managed to beat her yet.
There's also something else about her that made him tense. No matter where she goes, there always seemed to be a shadow surrounding her, like a dark cloud that never goes away.
Even in the garden of Quatre's mansion, a place were even the Perfect Soldier can relax in, the shadow didn't desert the girl. It's almost as if she's wearing the shadow like a cloak, surrounding her, letting no one see the real her. Whenever she's in the garden with the rest of them, he found himself tense and ready for battle. Hell, he gets tense and edgy if she's even remotely near him!
Heero shook himself out of his thoughts when he realized that she had somehow slipped away from his watchful sight. He cursed silently, and colorfully, may I add, under his breath for his carelessness.
"Oi, Heero! Where are ya going?" Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, and pilot of Wing Gundam, who doesn't even flinch when he killed thousands of people, almost winced when he heard that cheerful voice.
Almost.
"None of your business, Duo," he said coldly, turning to give the longhaired boy his famous Glare of Death(tm). Unfortunately, since he used it so much, the cheerful pilot totally ignored it. "And aren't you suppose to be checking up your Gundam?" His eyes narrowed and his voice contained just a trace of accusation.
The pilot of Deathscythe took a step back and clutched at the place where his heart is dramatically. "You wounded me, Heero!" He dropped the act and grinned at the other boy. "Of course I've checked my Shinigami! Anyway, I noticed that you seemed to be looking for someone." And Heero did not miss the emphasis on 'someone'.
Suddenly, without warning, Duo turned and walked away, his long braid whipped behind him, almost hitting Heero on the face. "I think Megami-san is in the garden, on one of the small hills, if she's the one that you were looking for."
Heero stared at the other pilot's rapidly retreating back with a strange...aching feeling in his chest. The longhaired boy was noticeably subdued when he mentioned the new pilot's name. But despite that obvious little fact, he had to wonder which part was because of the new pilot, and which part was about something else...
Heero blinked and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He was about to turn and go when he realized something that made him blink again.
Duo had said "Megami-san" instead of something less formal. Now that's a new one.
Other than Relena, Heero never heard the cheerful boy being that...polite and formal in addressing someone before, unless the mission somehow requires it, of course.
Heero suddenly shook his head in disgust.
"So. You've found me, Heero Yuy," she said, not turning around. Heero didn't answer, but he did come up to stand beside her. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he had a feeling that she's going to tell him something very important.
"Who are you?" he finally asked, breaking the silence that wrapped around them. For a long moment, she didn't answer.
"I am who I am. I am Yami no Megami, the Goddess of Darkness."
Heero's eyes narrowed slightly. So he didn't hear her wrong.
There was another long pause, and then "He runs...he hides...but he never lies...he is..."
"Shinigami, the God of Death," Heero finished in a whisper. "Duo..."
"Hai. Duo Maxwell is the key to everything." The girl turned and stared at the pilot of Wing with a pair of cool amethyst eyes, and then she looked down at the rock in her clenched hand. "I am also known by something else, Heero. I am also the Lady of Death, Death's sister." Her voice was shaking, not much, but Heero detected it nonetheless.
Heero closed his eyes against the glare of the red sun, but once he closed his eyes, all he saw was a pair of amethyst eyes and a long, long brown braid. He shouldn't believe what the new pilot was saying. There is no Goddess of Darkness, there is no God of Death, they're just made up characters to scare little children...and yet...and yet there was the unmistakable certainty and power in the voice of the girl who called herself Yami no Megami.
"And guess what?" she asked, eyes hidden in the shadows created by her bangs, voice shaking more strongly now and contained more than a little bit of hysteria. "My brother is in danger, and I can't do a damn thing about it!" With a loud crack, the rock in her hand broke and turned into rubbles that fell onto the grass.
Heero's eyes snapped open as what she said finally sunk in. Her brother...The God of Death...Duo...is in danger...
"What?" he whirled around and stared at the still bowed head with a pair of cold cobalt eyes. "What do you mean he's in danger?"
The girl who called herself The Goddess of Darkness chuckled, but there was no hint of amusement in that sound. Instead, it was laced with bitterness and...self loath? "You see this rock?" she asked quietly, opening her fist to show the dust that was all remained of the piece of rock she held earlier. "It's hard, very hard, and not many things can destroy it. But I've destroyed it, turned it into nothing but dust and rubbles. Me and my brother...we are like that rock, Heero. We may be the people who gave humans life, we may be the ones who stole those lives away...we may be powerful, but we will always be helpless and powerless in the grip of Fate."
Duo's in danger...
Heero ground his teeth together in frustration. So far, other than 'Duo's in danger', none of what she said makes much sense. "Why are you telling me this? After all, I'm just a human," he nearly growled the last part out, but he held the hostility back. He thought he did a pretty good job. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
One moment, Heero Yuy was standing, the next, he was pinned to the trunk of the tree beside him by a pair of strong arms.
"Dammit, Heero, don't you get it?!" She nearly screamed out. Her right arm pulled back and with a dull thud, her tightly clenched fist embedded itself into the part of the tree right beside Heero's face.
For the first time since her arrival, the carefully crafted mask slipped. And the scared little girl who cried herself to sleep every night since her brother's disappearance to the human world finally showed her face.
And the tears fell.
To be continued...
Part Two: Yamino Megami, now revealed as the Goddess of Darkness, shed light to many of our favorite suicidal pilot's questions. Meanwhile, a force began to move over the horizon, waiting for the perfect moment to emerge and give the punishment to the one they called Death...