Hey folks! TwistedLogic And Kii here with the first installation of Separation of Life and Death! *does a little happy dance* Now since we are both poor, broke college students there is no way we own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing. If we did we wouldn't be selling ourselves out on the street… oh damn I wasn't supposed to tell you that. *hides* Keep in mind we are writing this through a series of instant messages… o.O Now sit down, read and review! Don't make me send Cthulhu after your punk asses!
Separation of Life and Death
Hiiro's head hurt. Not just the mild discomfort of a headache, no this was a lot worse. It felt like someone was running around his head with a sledgehammer, hitting everything in sight and then some. Swallowing the groan trying to work its way out of his throat he slowly opened his eyes. To his relief where ever he was, it was dark. While he waited, rather impatiently, for his eyes to adjust he tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
He remembered the e-mail and the feeling like his heart hit his stomach at the words.
"Duo has become a liability. He is wild and uncontrollable he must be eliminated at all cost. Mission accepted or declined."
Being known as a heartless bastard really sucked at times like that. He stared at the screen without comprehension for a good five minutes before the meaning of the words sunk in, five minutes after sending one word back. Accepted.
Hiiro let out a slow hiss of breath as a burning sensation flared up in his chest right above his heart. Automatically his hand reached up and covered the inflamed area only to feel his chest was wet. Blinking in the darkness Hiiro raises his hand close to his face. Blood. Why was his chest covered in blood? And, due to the pain, he assumed it was his blood. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He failed.
Pushing the thought from his mind he struggled to push himself up into sitting position but his whole body hurt and burned like it was unused to physical excretion. Where the hell was he? It sure as hell wasn't his room. Gun! Where was his gun?
Taking a deep labored breath Hiiro once more tried to get his bearings when her heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps off in the distance. Without his gun and in his current shape he was unlikely to be victorious however he had the element of surprise on his side. They, whoever they were, didn't know he was awake and had probably underestimated him seeing how he was alone. A loud thud sounded through out the room echoing rather impressively as the recipient let out a string or curse words that would have done Duo proud.
"Of all the...where in the hell are the lights in this bloody room!" Hiiro rolled his eyes and he got up and crept to one side of the room. Hand out stretched searching for the wall only to run into a well-placed table. Gasping he went down having been hit in a very sensitive place.. Not even the perfect solider could withstand THAT type of pain. Not two seconds later the lights went up. Both gentlemen blinked at each other slightly confused as they gazed at each other.
"Yo Hiiro! You been out for ages! I was beginning to wonder if I actually did some permanent damage or something. Why you all hunched over like that? I know I didn't hit you anywhere near there."
Growling low in his throat Hiiro forced himself into a standing position. He locked eyes with the tall figure. Familiar violet eyes looked back only colder than Hiiro remembered. Hiiro couldn't help but notice the red mark on the figures forehead. A slight twitch of the mouth was the only outward reaction he showed.
"Duo? Explain. Now."
"Oi Hiiro... you never change. Always a man with a way with words"
A cold glare was the only thing Duo received. With a melodramatic sigh Duo walked into the room and to the other side of the table.
"Have a seat old friend it should probably make you more comfortable." A slight smirk turned the corner of his lips up as he quipped. "So you need a bag of ice for that?"
Eyeing both Duo and the chair uncertainly Hiiro made no reply other than sinking slowly onto the chair. He waited. He would have crossed his arms but the pain in his chest convinced him to make do.
"Explain."
Never had that word sounded so threatening as it did now. Duo just leaned forward and smiled.
"As you wish old friend. Let me start off by saying that for a corpse you are really well preserved."
Hiiro only glared. His patience was wearing thin and he didn't even want to consider what Duo meant by that last comment. Duo let out a sigh.
"Fine. We will do this your way. I am not the Duo you know. Nor is he what you see before you." Here Duo smirked. "We can get into that later if you wish. You are here for a reason. I have a mission for you."
Hiiro raised one eyebrow as he looked at the man before him.
"What kind of mission?"
"To save two entities from certain doom." Hiiro raised his eyebrow again.
"What too melodramatic for you? Fine you are to find someone. Someone very important to pesky humans and all other beings for that matter. Especially me."
"Why?"
"Ah I can't tell you that. Just if she is not found all life could be wiped out, yes including you Mr. Perfect Soldier. Because I will not tolerate anything less than completion of this mission."
"Who is this person I am suppose to find?"
"My, I guess you could call her, fiancée. A blond beauty deserving of more than life on this dirtball could ever provide. Tuskino Usagi. Believe it or not the love of my life and any previous incarnations as well"
Hiiro gave Duo a speculative look. "Previous incarnation?"
Duo gave him a look that said 'Duh'. "You know like previous life? The things I have to put up with to rectify a mistake... a very old mistake."
"Care to elaborate on that?"
"Not a chance in hell. But seeing how we are currently IN hell... I might have to make a few things clear... 1) you are dead. Very dead. 2) Unless you complete this mission you will remain dead. Only worse... You will be trapped in a room and forced to listen to *dramatic pause* people singing in the showers, off key!"
Duo's laugh sent shivers down Hiiro's spine, as did the thought of hearing people sing off key while in the shower. He didn't even want to think about that! Wiping and imaginary tear from his eye Duo calmed himself down.
"No really though Hiiro you are dead. But I have a deal for you so hear me out. Find Tuskino Usagi and find a way to reunite us. At that moment in time I will grant you your life back."
Hiiro raised that famed eyebrow again. It sounded simple... too simple.
"What's the catch?"
Duo blinked innocently. "Catch? There is no catch you just have to do what I asked you. Its not going to be easy but then again I know you thrive on a challenge."
Hiiro just stood there looking plaintively at Duo for a long time. "Are the others here?"
"Nope just you." Duo said in what could only be considered a cheerful voice. A very cheerful voice. One so cheerful it made you sick just to hear it.
"Then how are you here?"
"As I said, I am not your Duo. Well we are supposed to be... but like I said something happened a long time ago. That's part of what you are supposed to fix. And you only have a week to do it."
Hiiro's mouth dropped slightly, which on anyone else would be the equivalent of his mouth dropping open in shock causing Duo to burst into another round of giggles.
"Just kidding! I can't believe you bought that!"
The gaze that pierced Duo would have killed a lesser man but since one can't kill a god, Duo figured it was a good time to clue Hiiro into that minor detail as well. Before Hiiro's eyes Duo vanished.
"Looking for me?" Whispered a voice next to his left ear.
Hiiro whipped around arms raised to block the unexpected attack and counter only to hit thin air. Duo looked down at the fist embedded in what would have been his stomach.
"Did I forget to mention that?"
Hiiro just blinked unbelievingly. Duo just smirked. "Really Hiiro, maybe I should tell you a little background first, just to get things straight in your mind."
With the look of disbelief still in place, a record Duo was sure; Hiiro nodded and dropped his arm.
"First off my name is not Duo. For a long time I did not have a name nor did I have a body. I was an enigma along with my counter part. I don't think we even had a gender back then. I was darkness, so deep that even the space was swallowed by me. While she on the other hand was light; always bouncing about and giving birth to galaxies and solar systems. We discovered, through various activities, that there was a connection between us, although neither of us understood it at the time. Some time during our millennia of creation and destruction we found we didn't like to be parted. We longed for a chance, a chance of our own. Then this world was created. We thought this was it our chance, to be together finally. So we took shape and formed life and death on this planet. We were going to be together forever she said. We were young at the time...not really aware of what we were. I was in love." A rueful smile crossed his lips briefly before he scowled. "Then they came along and locked me away in this place. And so for centuries I ruled here with my hated growing day by day. It gave me power; in a twisted sort of way and once I had enough of it I split myself. My power as you can see remained here. While my physical body graced the earth with its presence once more."
Duo paused to gauge Hiiro's blank reaction before starting up again. "That's why I need you Hiiro. I can't find my counter part while trapped here. I can barley communicate with the Duo you know. But you on the other hand I can grant free reign to the land of the living. You must find her. I am sure they did the same to her as they did with me. Her light shines like no other. She is life. She isn't perfect, neither of us are, but we are and always should be connected. Without the other one, things will cease to be. Through various contacts I came up with the name I gave you. I know without a doubt she is my love, my other half."
Hiiro gave the God of Darkness an appraising look. "If you are granting my life back to find her, what's the reward in that? You will just let me keep on living? I will be forced back to fight a war that isn't mine? I fail to see that as being a reward for anything."
"You will be given a chance, a chance to really live. You will get back what you lost."
Hiiro just looked at Duo confused. "You will understand when the time is right. Believe me when I say you are getting a greater reward than any other mortal has gotten. And probably will ever get, at least from me."
Hiiro sat there staring at Duo for a long time. The pain on the dark Gods face was plain to see and even though his living counter part was responsible for his death he still could not refuse his once and only friend. Slowly Hiiro stood and looked at Duo straight in the eye. Only two words could be spoken at a time like this.
"Mission Accepted."
The God of Death smiled and then Hiiro was once more lost in darkness.