A/N: Once again we're back with Duo. Enjoy!
It should've been easy. It was easy, in retrospect. We'd made a lot of stupid decisions during the war, but I had thought that at some point we would grow out of that. Wisdom of the ages and all that shit. Maybe someday we would, provided we lived long enough for that to happen. But I didn't really see it happening any time soon. Not considering what was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs when we finally managed to carry Heero down. Trowa and Wufei were having a hard time managing him without tripping and Quatre had gone on ahead to make sure that the path stayed as clear as possible, moving chairs and anything else out of the way. I stayed behind them and that was stupid on my part; I should've been with Quatre.
The end result was that Trowa stepped out first, backwards, and Wufei came out facing forward. He saw what was going on and his jaw tightened, eyes flashing with rage. Trowa caught on to the fact that something was wrong and twisted around just as I stepped out the door behind them. We all saw it at the same time. Une was standing in the middle of the yard with her arm wrapped around Quatre's throat. There was a crazed gleam in her eyes and a gun in her hand, which was pressed solidly against Quat's temple. He had gone stiff against her and his eyes were wide, but I could see that it was still Quatre in control and not the god, not yet. There were more men lining the edge of the yard and every single one of them was armed.
Bizarrely, my first thought was for Relena. She was the mortal in this, after all, and she would have no protection at all if something went wrong. My eyes swung in the direction of the car but I couldn't see it. Une must have seen me looking because she said, "Don't worry, Maxwell. I wouldn't harm my emissary. I need her to be in top condition, you know. You only get one if you chose to seek them out."
It hadn't escaped my notice that she hadn't said anything about not hurting the rest of us. I closed the door behind me and shifted, widening my stance in case we were attacked. "What do you want, Une?" I asked, deliberately not looking at Quatre.
"I'm the goddess of peace, Maxwell. I would think what I want should be obvious even to you."
"But you have peace!" I said. "The Preventers make sure of that. There's no need of this. Let Relena and Quat go and we'll just walk away. You won't hear from any of us again." I was pretty sure that was a promise we, even Quatre, would be able to keep if need be.
"For now, but it's in the nature of the god of war to create war," Une said triumphantly, gesturing to Heero. "And wherever a god goes chaos is sure to follow. Just by being here the five of you are throwing Earth into a disruption. It's your fault. The war never would have dragged on for so long if it weren't for your presence! Oz would have won and Treize-sama would have ruled the way he was meant to if you had kept yourselves out of the way like you were supposed to."
"Hey, we didn't ask to be here!" I retorted. Her wild accusations were making me angry. "We were sent down here to monitor the war. Bring it up with the people upstairs if you don't like how things turned out, but don't blame it on us. You got your peace so it's time to just let it go."
Une just shook her head with a low laugh that sent chills down my spine. She seemed to enjoy stroking Quatre's cheek with the barrel of the gun. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Trowa tensing with every movement and I prayed silently that he would hold off for the time being. I didn't know what it would be like when gods fought, but I didn't think it would go over well. I looked back at Une and tried to think. Relena was right; she was clearly unhinged. Treize's death had pushed her over the edge. As long as she was here on Earth she was going to cause problems and not just for us. I dreaded to think of what she might do in Treize's honour.
"You're a god too," Wufei said suddenly. He knelt, lowering Heero's body to the ground before he stood up again. "Aren't you including yourself in that? You will cause problems here on Earth as well."
"Yes but I can fix them," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Or did you miss the part where I'm the goddess of peace? I'm much more suited for a life on Earth than death or war or the rest of you." She eyed Wufei and Trowa and squeezed Quatre's throat a little tighter. "You throw the balance out of control. That's why I have to get rid of you. I thought that it would be enough to take the god of war out of the equation, but sadly you've proven that you don't know when to back off." Her smile was distinctly unpleasant. "Shame."
"So what are you planning to do?" I asked warily. I couldn't imagine that this would end well. I scanned the perimeter again, counting how many men she'd brought with her. There were so many of them! At least three dozen and I suspected that more were hiding among the trees just in case something went wrong. Une wasn't Oz; she wasn't going to underestimate us. She knew what we could do, possibly better than we did.
"You're going to come with me," Une replied simply. "You can do it by choice or we can do it the hard way, it's really up to you. I couldn't care less. But I'll warn you that I am entirely prepared to shoot your little friend here and now. It'll get one god off of the planet and that's all I really care about."
We went with her. It galled me to give in so easily but what choice did we have when she was using Quatre to make sure that we would? I tensed when a couple of men approached us and grabbed Heero, but they didn't seem to be planning to hurt him, just carried him down the path past Une. Trowa went first, followed by Wufei, and then me. Une came behind us, never letting up on her grip on Quat for even a minute, so tight that his lips had a tinge of blue. I wondered what she was planning to do with us. Obviously she'd known to use Heero to coax us out here. It made me wonder if Relena could be trusted after all or if she had been an unknowing part of Une's scheme. There was no way of knowing for sure but I knew I'd think twice about trusting her in the future, especially when Une stopped us before we'd gotten very far.
"Oh yes, one last thing," she said pleasantly, nodding to one of the men. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. I couldn't see what it was but there was no way to miss the effects.
The explosion rocked all of us, tearing the cabin apart and forcibly shaking the ground and changing the air pressure in a sweeping wave that made my eardrums throb. I staggered and went down hard on one knee, throwing my hands out in a futile effort to stop my descent. The gravel and stones that I landed on cut deeply into my palms and I winced as I looked up. I immediately noticed that I wasn't the only one who'd been unbalanced. Wufei was on the ground and so were some of the men who had been surrounding us, including the ones who'd been carrying Heero. I didn't hesitate. Though I wanted to make sure that Heero and Wufei were okay, I leapt to my feet and ran for it, using every last trick I had ever learned as a street rat to disappear into the words. I heard shouts behind me and then someone shot at me. The bullet grazed my arm but that was it and they didn't shoot again, idiotic on their part. Footsteps pounded after me and I knew the time had come.
I grabbed my cross and pulled it away from my neck. It tingled between my hands and I felt the odd disorienting shift that meant Shinigami was taking over. By the time Une's men caught up they were no longer facing a mere boy soldier. The god of death was waiting for them. I could feel and watch as my body moved but I had no control. The men had no idea. One of them, the leader, squared his shoulders and lifted his rifle, aiming it towards my chest.
"That's enough now," he said coldly, cocking it back. "You're going to come back with us or we'll kill you where you stand. Une don't care and it will be one less of you that we have to worry about."
"Maybe we should just go ahead and do it," said another. "Like you said, the boss won't care and it's less work for us in the end." He smirked and I could see the relish he felt when he thought about causing the pain, suffering and death of someone else. It was sickening.
"I'm not sure that plan is going to work out for you," Shinigami said. He was smiling and there was a rush of adrenaline flooding through my - our - veins. I knew in a flash that was he was enjoying this, the opportunity to get back at these idiots for what they had done. He moved and I saw the moment when the men realized that he was holding onto a scythe, which had been hidden by the way he was standing. I knew I'd never forget the look of shock on their faces as it dawned that they were already dealing with a god who was very pissed off and very capable of killing them without too much effort.
The smart ones tried to run. Shinigami didn't let any of them escape. He leapt forward, his scythe a gleaming blade slashing through the air, and sliced two of them cleanly in half. There was a damp squishing noise as their body parts landed on the ground. One of them brought his gun up and tried to shoot. Shinigami dodged the bullets and ran a hand down the length of the man's arm. He died without ever realizing what was going on. My hand - his hand - our hand wielded the weapon with expert precision and I could honestly say that most of those men died before they even knew that he was behind them. It was good to see their bodies and know that they wouldn't be able to go to Une's aid. We were pleased as we watched their souls escape their bodies and fly up towards the late evening sun.
In the wake of it all, Shinigami stood up and turned towards the forest. I didn't ask for control and he didn't try to give it back. For one brief moment we had been one and I didn't know what to do about that, not yet. He said, "You can come out now."
Bushes rustled. Trowa walked out. If he was surprised to see that Shinigami was in control, he didn't show it. "I thought you'd gotten away," he said calmly. There was no sign of the rage that had been so blinding earlier and I wondered what Quat was. "I saw you running into the woods."
"Those idiots were too foolish," Shinigami replied. He was oddly relaxed in the presence of another person, to the point where he had allowed his scythe to dangle down by his side, and that, more than anything, told me how much he trusted Trowa - or rather, the god that existed within Trowa. "They were nothing to take down. Where are the others?"
"Heero was still out and I think Wufei was knocked unconscious by the blast," he said. His jaw tightened. "Une was still holding onto Quatre. She was expecting the explosion so it didn't throw her off guard. I don't think he dared do anything while Heero and Wufei were in the hands of her men… and I'm not sure if his powers would have worked on her where she was a goddess." He looked at Shinigami questioningly.
"It depends," Shinigami said and he didn't offer anything more than that. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked over to the first man that he - we - had killed. The body had been neatly halved and Shinigami bent over the lower portion. It didn't seem to bother him, seeing or touching a corpse, and he reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers. I realized that they were official documents in a language I couldn't read, which meant Shinigami couldn't understand them either. Apparently it was one of those things where even being a god couldn't trump the limitations of a mortal body. I could feel his resulting frustration over the fact as he sighed angrily.
"Do you know where they're going?" Trowa asked him.
"She will make sure that they are easy to find," he answered. "She is looking to cause a war between the gods on Earth. It makes no sense of her to hide away. I suspect that once she knows where we've gone she'll extend the invitation for us to come looking."
I saw Trowa's mouth open like he was going to say something but his words were lost in a dizzying rush. My legs buckled as Shinigami suddenly retreated and I was left in full control. I hit the ground as Trowa rushed over to me, his steady hands checking to be sure that I hadn't suffered any unknown injuries. I let him do it even though I knew I hadn't. I needed a moment to recollect myself. I could still feel the dark anger of Shinigami, closer to the surface than before. I felt like we were blending, the lines blurring. I didn't know if it should upset me or not.
"Alright?" Trowa said gently, finally gripping my arm and pulling me up.
I nodded, leaning against him. "Fine. I wasn't expecting him to do that."
Trowa nodded. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said. "We can't just stand here until Une finds us. We'll get something to eat and wait for this invitation of hers to come." A grim smile lit his face and I returned it. One way or another, this would all soon end.
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