It's been a long time coming I hope I haven't lost it * hugs* ele (for mew and phour)
Duo was cold, a burning numbing pain tingling from his knees and dancing like electricity up his spine causing his body to shudder violently. As his torso convulsed again he wondered if this was what he felt like to others, was he now dying? Was this what death felt like? But the sensation was too sharp, to real, the pain he felt proved he was very much alive, and as he blinked his pale violet eyes upon the glaring white landscape he suddenly wished, wished with what little of a soul he had left that he was dead instead.
Pale feather soft flakes caressed his cheeks and clung to his pale lashes before melting into icy tears as duo raised his eyes to the oppressive grey sky overhead. The wind whistled down the dirty back alley where he sat knelt in the snow, and tugged viciously at his thin clothes, driving another flurry of ice against his flushed cheeks, hot and puffy with crying.
The braided child trembled again hugging himself and wailing, his body wracked by sobs as he laid his cheek upon the stiff form lying next to him in the snow. The dark haired child with the green eyes a blue frozen doll, held within the chilled stark embrace of the snow, his final resting place after a week of torment a broken back alley of a slum, his only mourner the boy he'd help to mould.
" SOLO!!!!" screamed duo, beating his fist off the ground " solo I got it I got it you can't leave me!! He pleaded desperately shaking the empty vessel beside him, his breathing ragged and desperate. With numb blueing fingers he fumbled in his shirt, pulling out a shiny glass vial, and holding it with infinite care eased the stopper from it.
" See ..Here's the medicine it'll make ya all better you'll see you'll be well again!!" he babbled cradling the older boys head and brushing the snow from the blue mouth with gentle care, "drink this you'll be better" he whispered pouring the liquid across the darker haired boys lips.
The vials precious fluid dribbled from the corner of solo's lips trailing yellow rivulets down his white face and sinking into the snow. His emerald eyes remained fixed, staring blankly into the distance as if already looking into the next world, the spirit, the fire, the life that had been friend and mentor to duo was gone, solo was dead and duo was alone
" NOOOOOOOOOO!!" Screamed duo, loneliness seeping through him, chilling him in a way the cold never could. He clutched his friends body to him sobbing openly, rocking backwards and forwards as if mealy setting a child to sleep.
" No can't leave me..Not again, can't die, can't die,……too much death, so much death not shinigami no more not, I'm not, come back, please come back, please come back" he whispered feverishly over and over into his friend hair. Until his anguish dimmed to a hoarse wail and his eyes burned.
Darkness fell, the alley lit by the dimming neon lights of a bar, it's faint glow casting a ghostly hue upon the scene and still duo sat, body and mind numb, his lips moving with soundless pleas, his eyes red and raw gazing blankly at the reeking dumpster across from him, seeing but not seeing, and deep within him his mind twisted, tortured telling himself over and over that it was just a memory, just the past, the past couldn't hurt him, it was the river of pains tricks. But that was the point, the memory hurt as real as if he were still there, the shame, the loss the guilt, cut him deep. He wanted to escape, he wanted to die.
" Ya really gotta stop this self torture buddy, it's not good for either of us ya know" duo froze within the memory, a voice he'd not heard in so long ringing out across the alley and echoing off the flaking brick walls. His head snapped up, his mouth open in shock as his eyes probed the darkness. Sat on the dumpster smiling at him and bathed in a Luna glow was solo, he glanced down at the corpse in his arms then back at his friend's grinning face beyond confused, this hadn't happened, this wasn't his memory. The dark haired boy jumped down and walked towards his friend, his feet leaving the snow still pristine and perfect behind him free from footprints.
" H..How? What? You're dead!!" whispered duo his eyes never leaving solo as he shone through the twilight, instinctively his grip tightened on the corpse In his arms, as he flattened himself against the alley wall as solo drew near.
" Ya honestly think I could rest in peace with you in so much pain duo?" He murmured kneeling by duo and tilting his chin up to look at him. Violet pools stared back into narrowed emerald. As solo gently took duo's arms from around the corpse, his touch warm and comforting, not cold like duo had expected. He desperately clung to solos hands shaking, scared that if he broke contact he'd disappear and he'd be left in the alley alone again.
The older boy looked around, his thumbs absently rubbing the back of duo's hands trying to soothe the scared child in front of him, before his gaze sadly fell on the corpse again, his fingers reaching out and closing the eyelids on the glassy green stare
" Duo….is this all you keep of me? Years together and this is the only memory of me you hold inside yourself? An empty cold corpse and a lot of pain?"
The death scythe pilot looked away biting his lip as the tears fell again, his bangs hiding his face in shadow as his mouth filled with a raw coppery taste and eyes stung from the burn of the salt
" How can I let myself forget?" he chocked hoarsely "it's my fault ya dead" he hissed, " you shouldn't even be talking to me"
Solo looked pained, his hand reaching out to his friends shoulder before he stopped himself and let it fall limply back in his lap,
" Duo?" the pilot didn't answer, unable to meet his friends gaze, one more friend he'd let down, one more person he'd watched die, but solo would not let the silence pass
" Shinigami" he whispered. It worked the boys head jerked up, his face cold and stony his voice tinged with bitterness
" That's right solo call me what I am …death call me what I really am shinigami the soul gatherer, the shadow walker the unloved"
" I loved you," whispered solo stopping the boy dead. Duo looked back in shock as solo pulled him closer, his face a frozen mask of disbelief beneath bathed in white from the moon as the corpse to slide from his knee
" Duo you don't kill people, people kill people, you just took then home. You didn't kill me…the alliance did, sister Helen, father Maxwell, all were killed by them, it's a war people do die my friend. You could of given up but you decided to fight, fight for all the children on the colonies, all the duo maxwells and solo's, all the orphans, with no family, I was big brother to you…you are big brother to a planet. " Solo pulled away and cradled duos face in his hands brushing his tears away from his pale cheeks with his thumb " you don't bring death, you may be shinigami but now you are also duo Maxwell buddy, fighter for the colonies …and duo Maxwell brings life not death, I consider myself lucky to call duo Maxwell my friend"
The scene around them changed as the pain and guilt within duo cracked, he was duo Maxwell and thousands were depending on him to make the world a better place for them to live in, Quatre was counting on him, he was here to bring life to Quatre. The sky cleared overhead, grey breaking through to brilliant blue, the warm sun warming his frozen limbs as the slums of l2 flickered and broke into green field rolling as far as the eyes could see
" This is where he's waiting for you buddy dun let him down" grinned solo getting up and hauling a dazed duo to his feet
" This is what I keep of us in me, I think you could use it" he smiled linking fingers with duo and shutting his eyes, duo smiled, a real smile, not a grin, or a smirk but the smile of true peace and happiness. Golden light danced across his eyelids his soul thawing and sounds of laughter filled his ears, feeling of trust, friendship care but above all love swam through him, the last gift solo had to give.
Duo opened his eyes " but…how?" he asked, eyes wide as he glanced round the fields of Elysium, this wasn't what the river of pain should be, he should be in torment. His friend shrugged and grinned mischievously ruffling his chestnut bangs affectionately
" Lets just say you have friends down here…. and an angels calling you home" duo turned back confused " an angel?" his brow wrinkled as he gazed at solo bewildered. The boy just winked " you'll see buddy you'll see, now show em what my friend is made of get going street rat" duo opened his mouth to protest but was silenced as solos lips locked with his, sending warmth flooding through his body as rushing filled his ears, the waters of the river around him once more.
Duo hauled himself out onto the bank panting, gulping the air like a starving man, but for all the pain his lungs were now giving him, for all his mouth tasted vile and his skin was sticky with blood, he felt happy, alive. His eyes held a new calm and focus
Duo was dispassionate to the symphony of anguish that assaulted his ears as he made his way along the narrow path that ran through the molten river of fire and blood. It's crimson glow a gory contrast to the pale blue luminescence that had shone from the river of souls he had left behind.
His eyes looked neither right nor left as he stalked along the walkway, the black flames of the shinigami seemed to deaden his senses to the suffering around him. It wrapped round his heart sealing it from the misery on all sides.
Tartarus was much like the mirrors in a fun house, look at something long enough and it will shift and change, the scene round duo was constantly changing, moulding itself round the minds of it's occupants.
Tartarus tormented you by giving you you're worst night mare made real…your own personal hell. Your deepest fears ripped out of your head and made flesh for you to live for all eternity.
With every step duo walked deeper into the madness of fear. Mortal fear, jealous fear, violent fear, fears of failure, ridicule, death, the unknown, these were the masters of Tartarus.
But duo was the lord of the underworld, prince of Tartarus…he had strength within his heart and his soul was now at peace with his past. Inside he was healed, for the first time in year's guilt was not shackled round his heart. He was ready to fight, ready to face his father, ready to rescue Quatre.
Duo wasn't afraid anymore. He raised his head and levelled his gaze on the mirror in front of him, a vast shifting surface of silver…
" Face your worst fear" he whispered, the wall of tears was the last obstacle of Tartarus and the worst, face your worst fear and yourself in it's glassy surface, his eyes met his own and the misty surface cleared.
Heero lay dead, a limp body on a ground stained red, his cobalt eyes frozen in a look of shock, betrayal and profound sadness. His bloodless lips, half open as if to utter a final word to his killer who stood over his fragile corpse, Heero's still beating heart clutched in his fist. Duo's eyes met the killers, violet and violet locked, duo was the killer, and he was laughing.
His head was tipped back shaking with insane glee, his white fangs glinting like tiny shards of ivory in the moonlight that fell across both of them; it's pale light glinting off the dripping blood of the perfect solider. The killer looked at duo with shadowed eyes as he flapped his black leathery wings and licked his lips
" This is what you'll be,…. what you are" he hissed gleefully, dragging Heero up by the hair and smirking at his handiwork, a fist size hole in the Japanese boys chest where the heart had once dwelt but now was just a bloody pulp of ripped muscle, shattered bone and blood.
" You kill him, kill them all and you'll enjoy it" his reflection chuckled walking towards duo with predatory grace, it's chestnut braid whipping back and forth with a life of it's own like a viper.
" You're wrong " growled duo, meeting his counterparts icy gaze " by the fact you disgust me it proves I'll never be you,…you aren't real…none of this is real and ya just another parlour trick to stop me from reaching Quatre" he snapped, with a feral snarl he punched the mirror. It's surface rippled before shattering into tiny droplets of crystal and exploding outward silently.
Duo shielded his eyes until the last fragment brushed past his ear cutting the delicate skin. On the other side of where the mirror, stood the bridge to the palace of Hades, home and his father. As his foot touched the arched bridge over the bottomless canyon he caught the faint sound of rustling wings above him. He looked up just as a slender female figure landed grace fully in front of him; duo quickly took in her appearance.
She twisted her scarlet lips into a seductive smile and she stalked over to duo, her shapely hips swaying fully as she walked. Duo remained impassive at the beauties obvious attempt at seduction as he continued to study the long limbed woman.
Physically she was perfect, her waist small, her breasts large. Her creamy pale skin a stark contrast to her midnight wings folded on her back and the black leather scraps she wore for modesty. But something about her, some essence she gave off was anything but beautiful. She stopped inches from his face and narrowed her amber eyes as she pushed a glossy strand of waist length blonde hair from her face.
" Long time no see lover, " she purred seductively
" Pandora" he hissed
WYTCHES CAVERN the home of Elspeth http://www.kjkemp.fsnet.co.uk
Duo was cold, a burning numbing pain tingling from his knees and dancing like electricity up his spine causing his body to shudder violently. As his torso convulsed again he wondered if this was what he felt like to others, was he now dying? Was this what death felt like? But the sensation was too sharp, to real, the pain he felt proved he was very much alive, and as he blinked his pale violet eyes upon the glaring white landscape he suddenly wished, wished with what little of a soul he had left that he was dead instead.
Pale feather soft flakes caressed his cheeks and clung to his pale lashes before melting into icy tears as duo raised his eyes to the oppressive grey sky overhead. The wind whistled down the dirty back alley where he sat knelt in the snow, and tugged viciously at his thin clothes, driving another flurry of ice against his flushed cheeks, hot and puffy with crying.
The braided child trembled again hugging himself and wailing, his body wracked by sobs as he laid his cheek upon the stiff form lying next to him in the snow. The dark haired child with the green eyes a blue frozen doll, held within the chilled stark embrace of the snow, his final resting place after a week of torment a broken back alley of a slum, his only mourner the boy he'd help to mould.
" SOLO!!!!" screamed duo, beating his fist off the ground " solo I got it I got it you can't leave me!! He pleaded desperately shaking the empty vessel beside him, his breathing ragged and desperate. With numb blueing fingers he fumbled in his shirt, pulling out a shiny glass vial, and holding it with infinite care eased the stopper from it.
" See ..Here's the medicine it'll make ya all better you'll see you'll be well again!!" he babbled cradling the older boys head and brushing the snow from the blue mouth with gentle care, "drink this you'll be better" he whispered pouring the liquid across the darker haired boys lips.
The vials precious fluid dribbled from the corner of solo's lips trailing yellow rivulets down his white face and sinking into the snow. His emerald eyes remained fixed, staring blankly into the distance as if already looking into the next world, the spirit, the fire, the life that had been friend and mentor to duo was gone, solo was dead and duo was alone
" NOOOOOOOOOO!!" Screamed duo, loneliness seeping through him, chilling him in a way the cold never could. He clutched his friends body to him sobbing openly, rocking backwards and forwards as if mealy setting a child to sleep.
" No can't leave me..Not again, can't die, can't die,……too much death, so much death not shinigami no more not, I'm not, come back, please come back, please come back" he whispered feverishly over and over into his friend hair. Until his anguish dimmed to a hoarse wail and his eyes burned.
Darkness fell, the alley lit by the dimming neon lights of a bar, it's faint glow casting a ghostly hue upon the scene and still duo sat, body and mind numb, his lips moving with soundless pleas, his eyes red and raw gazing blankly at the reeking dumpster across from him, seeing but not seeing, and deep within him his mind twisted, tortured telling himself over and over that it was just a memory, just the past, the past couldn't hurt him, it was the river of pains tricks. But that was the point, the memory hurt as real as if he were still there, the shame, the loss the guilt, cut him deep. He wanted to escape, he wanted to die.
" Ya really gotta stop this self torture buddy, it's not good for either of us ya know" duo froze within the memory, a voice he'd not heard in so long ringing out across the alley and echoing off the flaking brick walls. His head snapped up, his mouth open in shock as his eyes probed the darkness. Sat on the dumpster smiling at him and bathed in a Luna glow was solo, he glanced down at the corpse in his arms then back at his friend's grinning face beyond confused, this hadn't happened, this wasn't his memory. The dark haired boy jumped down and walked towards his friend, his feet leaving the snow still pristine and perfect behind him free from footprints.
" H..How? What? You're dead!!" whispered duo his eyes never leaving solo as he shone through the twilight, instinctively his grip tightened on the corpse In his arms, as he flattened himself against the alley wall as solo drew near.
" Ya honestly think I could rest in peace with you in so much pain duo?" He murmured kneeling by duo and tilting his chin up to look at him. Violet pools stared back into narrowed emerald. As solo gently took duo's arms from around the corpse, his touch warm and comforting, not cold like duo had expected. He desperately clung to solos hands shaking, scared that if he broke contact he'd disappear and he'd be left in the alley alone again.
The older boy looked around, his thumbs absently rubbing the back of duo's hands trying to soothe the scared child in front of him, before his gaze sadly fell on the corpse again, his fingers reaching out and closing the eyelids on the glassy green stare
" Duo….is this all you keep of me? Years together and this is the only memory of me you hold inside yourself? An empty cold corpse and a lot of pain?"
The death scythe pilot looked away biting his lip as the tears fell again, his bangs hiding his face in shadow as his mouth filled with a raw coppery taste and eyes stung from the burn of the salt
" How can I let myself forget?" he chocked hoarsely "it's my fault ya dead" he hissed, " you shouldn't even be talking to me"
Solo looked pained, his hand reaching out to his friends shoulder before he stopped himself and let it fall limply back in his lap,
" Duo?" the pilot didn't answer, unable to meet his friends gaze, one more friend he'd let down, one more person he'd watched die, but solo would not let the silence pass
" Shinigami" he whispered. It worked the boys head jerked up, his face cold and stony his voice tinged with bitterness
" That's right solo call me what I am …death call me what I really am shinigami the soul gatherer, the shadow walker the unloved"
" I loved you," whispered solo stopping the boy dead. Duo looked back in shock as solo pulled him closer, his face a frozen mask of disbelief beneath bathed in white from the moon as the corpse to slide from his knee
" Duo you don't kill people, people kill people, you just took then home. You didn't kill me…the alliance did, sister Helen, father Maxwell, all were killed by them, it's a war people do die my friend. You could of given up but you decided to fight, fight for all the children on the colonies, all the duo maxwells and solo's, all the orphans, with no family, I was big brother to you…you are big brother to a planet. " Solo pulled away and cradled duos face in his hands brushing his tears away from his pale cheeks with his thumb " you don't bring death, you may be shinigami but now you are also duo Maxwell buddy, fighter for the colonies …and duo Maxwell brings life not death, I consider myself lucky to call duo Maxwell my friend"
The scene around them changed as the pain and guilt within duo cracked, he was duo Maxwell and thousands were depending on him to make the world a better place for them to live in, Quatre was counting on him, he was here to bring life to Quatre. The sky cleared overhead, grey breaking through to brilliant blue, the warm sun warming his frozen limbs as the slums of l2 flickered and broke into green field rolling as far as the eyes could see
" This is where he's waiting for you buddy dun let him down" grinned solo getting up and hauling a dazed duo to his feet
" This is what I keep of us in me, I think you could use it" he smiled linking fingers with duo and shutting his eyes, duo smiled, a real smile, not a grin, or a smirk but the smile of true peace and happiness. Golden light danced across his eyelids his soul thawing and sounds of laughter filled his ears, feeling of trust, friendship care but above all love swam through him, the last gift solo had to give.
Duo opened his eyes " but…how?" he asked, eyes wide as he glanced round the fields of Elysium, this wasn't what the river of pain should be, he should be in torment. His friend shrugged and grinned mischievously ruffling his chestnut bangs affectionately
" Lets just say you have friends down here…. and an angels calling you home" duo turned back confused " an angel?" his brow wrinkled as he gazed at solo bewildered. The boy just winked " you'll see buddy you'll see, now show em what my friend is made of get going street rat" duo opened his mouth to protest but was silenced as solos lips locked with his, sending warmth flooding through his body as rushing filled his ears, the waters of the river around him once more.
Duo hauled himself out onto the bank panting, gulping the air like a starving man, but for all the pain his lungs were now giving him, for all his mouth tasted vile and his skin was sticky with blood, he felt happy, alive. His eyes held a new calm and focus
Duo was dispassionate to the symphony of anguish that assaulted his ears as he made his way along the narrow path that ran through the molten river of fire and blood. It's crimson glow a gory contrast to the pale blue luminescence that had shone from the river of souls he had left behind.
His eyes looked neither right nor left as he stalked along the walkway, the black flames of the shinigami seemed to deaden his senses to the suffering around him. It wrapped round his heart sealing it from the misery on all sides.
Tartarus was much like the mirrors in a fun house, look at something long enough and it will shift and change, the scene round duo was constantly changing, moulding itself round the minds of it's occupants.
Tartarus tormented you by giving you you're worst night mare made real…your own personal hell. Your deepest fears ripped out of your head and made flesh for you to live for all eternity.
With every step duo walked deeper into the madness of fear. Mortal fear, jealous fear, violent fear, fears of failure, ridicule, death, the unknown, these were the masters of Tartarus.
But duo was the lord of the underworld, prince of Tartarus…he had strength within his heart and his soul was now at peace with his past. Inside he was healed, for the first time in year's guilt was not shackled round his heart. He was ready to fight, ready to face his father, ready to rescue Quatre.
Duo wasn't afraid anymore. He raised his head and levelled his gaze on the mirror in front of him, a vast shifting surface of silver…
" Face your worst fear" he whispered, the wall of tears was the last obstacle of Tartarus and the worst, face your worst fear and yourself in it's glassy surface, his eyes met his own and the misty surface cleared.
Heero lay dead, a limp body on a ground stained red, his cobalt eyes frozen in a look of shock, betrayal and profound sadness. His bloodless lips, half open as if to utter a final word to his killer who stood over his fragile corpse, Heero's still beating heart clutched in his fist. Duo's eyes met the killers, violet and violet locked, duo was the killer, and he was laughing.
His head was tipped back shaking with insane glee, his white fangs glinting like tiny shards of ivory in the moonlight that fell across both of them; it's pale light glinting off the dripping blood of the perfect solider. The killer looked at duo with shadowed eyes as he flapped his black leathery wings and licked his lips
" This is what you'll be,…. what you are" he hissed gleefully, dragging Heero up by the hair and smirking at his handiwork, a fist size hole in the Japanese boys chest where the heart had once dwelt but now was just a bloody pulp of ripped muscle, shattered bone and blood.
" You kill him, kill them all and you'll enjoy it" his reflection chuckled walking towards duo with predatory grace, it's chestnut braid whipping back and forth with a life of it's own like a viper.
" You're wrong " growled duo, meeting his counterparts icy gaze " by the fact you disgust me it proves I'll never be you,…you aren't real…none of this is real and ya just another parlour trick to stop me from reaching Quatre" he snapped, with a feral snarl he punched the mirror. It's surface rippled before shattering into tiny droplets of crystal and exploding outward silently.
Duo shielded his eyes until the last fragment brushed past his ear cutting the delicate skin. On the other side of where the mirror, stood the bridge to the palace of Hades, home and his father. As his foot touched the arched bridge over the bottomless canyon he caught the faint sound of rustling wings above him. He looked up just as a slender female figure landed grace fully in front of him; duo quickly took in her appearance.
She twisted her scarlet lips into a seductive smile and she stalked over to duo, her shapely hips swaying fully as she walked. Duo remained impassive at the beauties obvious attempt at seduction as he continued to study the long limbed woman.
Physically she was perfect, her waist small, her breasts large. Her creamy pale skin a stark contrast to her midnight wings folded on her back and the black leather scraps she wore for modesty. But something about her, some essence she gave off was anything but beautiful. She stopped inches from his face and narrowed her amber eyes as she pushed a glossy strand of waist length blonde hair from her face.
" Long time no see lover, " she purred seductively
" Pandora" he hissed
WYTCHES CAVERN the home of Elspeth http://www.kjkemp.fsnet.co.uk