His worlds merged, and his thoughts melded, was he, duo, was he Shinigami? Did it matter? The tortured soul walked through a land he would never know, past people at peace, a feeling unknown to him. In what little heart remained he asked himself, did he have the right to tear Quatre from the paradise he'd found? The ignorance of bliss?
Such a gentle soul to be forced to war and now he could forget, he'd found contentment, yet Shinigami? Duo the destroyer had come to end that.
Under foot he crushed the daisies, flattered the grass, scorching the earth. Till he peered into the pool of forgetfulness, the reflection an animated spectre rippled before his eyes, neither taking the pain nor making the way clear for him.
Who was the mask in the water, the blank innocence? Duo Maxwell had died, and Shinigami ended at Setsuna's feet, this was a not being in the land of dead, Quatre did not even raise his head, buried deep in the comfort of numbness, the pool pulling away all memories leaving a blank angel by the water edge, absolved and untroubled. And as a smile tugged at the not Duo's lips he realised he'd become the devil , the tormentor, his pale hand taking the blondes shoulder, once more telling the boy his name , the name of a killer.
"Quatre……………wake up buddy"
The deep blue eyes stayed fixed on the ebbing blue water, a deep part of him escaping on its current, tears slipping over his tanned cheeks, wishing for the innocence he appeared, begging death to spare him.
But Shinigami had no pity and Duo was gone, the scythe was pulled from nothing, causing its owner to shudder, and drawing on a power belonging to Hades.
"Quatre, we can't both go, I have….to bring you…back"
Round the edges of his eyes the world fell, darkness rushing in as Duo, Shin the boy who was dead slashed his wrist, the scythe he'd forsaken slipping through his skin, opening up his veins, letting them weep their ruby tears down his pale arms.
"Quatre they need ya I can't go on ya gotta remember!"
The tears slipped to the ground, virgin green stained menstrual wine from the blood of a dead god.
"Quatre please drink ya gotta remember they need ya!"
The Arabians eyes followed the red stars on ivory, a starved look in the deep pools of blue, his tongue moistening his parched lips before slowly, gently, closing his mouth on the dead skin, absorbing the knowledge and pain of the hunted god. Taking the blood, deep to his soul, awakening the essence, the spirit of Quatre Rebarber Winner, the wraith reaching out for life through the blood of death. And live it did, pain, guilt, knowledge, beat suddenly deep within his core.
The repulsion of what he'd done rose deep within his psyche, the sky blue eyes focusing with new clarity with a scream, piercing the tranquillity of Elysium, shattering the contentment of eternity with the harsh reality of life.
"DUO!" Quatre howled, clinging to his friend, shaking, the battles, the blood, the anguish, ripping through him like a relentless tsunami, hammering his feeling back into life, crashing upon his conscious in a tide of woe and guilt.
In the after math, nought but a child holding his friend were left, a trembling shell left holding his mask of an acquaintance,
"Duo you can't leave us!"
Quatre dragged the slight corpse across the fields, to the mouth of night, towards life, and pain and……Trowa.
"TROWA I'M COMING"
In the distance, to his newly focused eyes was the door to Hades, the underworld, and the boy dragged his friend towards the dark. The yawning jaws of the abyss, with his memories crashing upon him with every step, and deep, deep within the dark another watched and waited and felt.
Hades saw the betrayal his son had visited upon him, he felt the ripples through his realm, knew the deception his wife had caused to hide Shinigami from him. And his anger knew no bounds, stirring from their slumber, he sent out assassins to stop Shinigami. From the pits of fire woke the hydra, from the depths of Tartarus woke the hundred handed hecatonchires and for the first time in millennia they left their posts, heading towards the tunnel of adamantine that led to the bronze wall of Hades and freedom.
Quatre half struggled into the tunnel, the braided god a dead weight in his arms, what troubled him was although the walls shone like black glass, there was no reflection in his arms.
"Duo…what in Allah is going on?"
The boy in his arms twitched, his lips parting to croak.
"Run for the light an' dun look back, they're coming"
"Duo I won't leave…….."
He trailed off glancing back, a soft hissing sound following them, like water dripping on a hot stove but done fifty times at once. His eyes widened, sweat beading his brow, as an Arabian snakes had never bothered him.
"The hydra Quatre"
Quatre watched as his friend dropped to his hands and knees, knuckles turning white gripping the scythe, his teeth gritted in a snarl. On liquid limbs he turned, eyes blank black watching as a writhing mass of scaled bodies filled the tunnel. Each decked with a head, cold jeweled eyes focusing on them, as hooked rib like fangs snapped at the air in front of them.
"Quatre get the fuck outta here"
He yelled as he brought up the scythe, holding off the first off the hydras jaws. Grunting he felt the impact to his marrow, his insides jarring, as his feet skidded in the dirt against the coiled muscle of the hydra
I'm going to die, he thought to himself, here everything ends, but if Quatre can make it back to the light my jobs done, I can join oblivion in the acid of the hydras putrid gut. But he should have learned things like happy ever after did not apply to him, blocking the way ahead were the three hecatonchires, their hundred arms barring the light in a forest of hands. Again the hydra lunged, fangs sinking deep into his flesh, searing the skin with a fire hotter than Hades itself, as his conscious began to fade, and he peered through the darkness to his angel, glowing before him
"Let your time end Shinigami, death must be constant without it there is no life but its not your weight to bare let me take it!"
Her eyes burned, reaching out to him desperate to repay the debt she owed, the pale slender hand reaching out for him.
" no I wont let you become me"
He screamed as Quatre backed into him from the reaching hands before him,
" you don't have a choice give me the scythe Shinigami! Let yourself be free !"
" Setsuna NO!"