[author's note: Please disregard the extreme weirdness of this fic; I know it is very strange but I got sick of writing about a drawn-out battle so it is shorter and very terribly written...gomen ne maybe sometime I will rewrite it...]
And waited. When nothing happened, he began to really worry.
Heero made no attempt to move. He was slowly recuperating, eyes closed, working out the knots in his mind, creating a psychologically perfect shield. This would be the final trick he would ever play on Duo, if it even worked at all. When he had agreed with Wufei, he had thought it was part of the mission plan. How wrong it was. And now he had to fight it through, and perhaps kill not only himself but maybe his only true friend. He never openly admitted it, nor even admitted it to himself, but he did actually consider Duo a friend, rival, stubborn pilot, jabbermouth, whatever the case was, and even if Duo may not have realized it but he didn't save Heero twice for nothing. It was sort of a mutual agreement that neither really accepted. A strange bond that just didn't work out in the mind.
Heero's eyes flashed open.
Duo caught his breath as the saber lashed out and came up, coming down with an amazing force. Out of the deadlock momentarily, Duo quickly moved back and over. Too late. Receiving a heavy blow and a deep rut in his left arm, his shield, he sat down, hard. In a feeble attempt to recover himself, he managed to find himself in another bad situation. He had been standing in a dry creek bed, surrounded with strong ice and heavy snowdrifts. The tundra stretched out for miles in every direction, though around the long creek high banks were piled with icy snow. His right foot had gotten stuck in the drift when he was forced down, and without the left arm to support the Gundam he was immobile.
Heero slashed out again. His opponent lost the entire left arm. He took two steps forward, and held the saber point at Deathscythe Hell [custom]'s throat.
"Are you ready to die?" he said, his voice fierce and quiet.
Clutching at his side, fist clenched, Duo opened one eye. The pain was excruciating. He could barely see, odd colors flowing over and blurring his sight. He could feel a wetness coming from his side, and knew that very soon if he wasn't dead yet he would be. His head was throbbing, and he felt light-headed and dizzy. Yes, he was very ready to die, and not for the first time in his life.
He let both eyes close again. "I am ready to die, old friend. Stab me, and stab me fast." He opened his eyes again, without realizing he might as well keep them open because he couldn't see, anyway. Then he whispered, "I'm sorry, my Deathscythe. Maybe someday in Hell we can meet in better circumstances." He let out a long, melancholy sigh, and leaned back, letting his hands drop. A pool of reddish liquid was forming in the cockpit, and his clothing torn. He shook his head. "What am I talking about? Better?" He chuckled softly, then choked and coughed blood. "Heero! Kill me!" he shrieked desperately.
Heero edged closer, the saber grazing across the neckpiece, leaving a burned line. What was he doing? Wasn't Duo his...no. He was his enemy. Most definitely his enemy. Or wait. But why was he hesistating? He had his orders. The saber came to a rest, tip on Deathscythe Hell [custom]'s remaining shoulder. A voice was screaming inside him to save Duo from his misery, but he couldn't obey it. Then suddenly he couldn't stand it anymore. He began to raise the saber.
Wufei approached the machine-gun covered Heavyarms Kai [custom], attempting to connect with the pilot. He began his conversation, knowing Trowa was listening, even if it didn't seem that way.
CRASH. Wing Zero was thrown backwards by the sheer force. Heero looked behind him.
"Stop immediately, and step out of your Gundam, Heero Yuy." The voice. He knew it. It was Zechs, intervening in affairs not his again. When Heero did not move, he went on speaking. "What do you think you are doing? This is your fellow pilot!" Zechs turned the Mercurius around. In his mobile suit, his eyes narrowed. "By the rules of chivalry, you do not take advantage of the wounded. But I see this is not the case, being of this day and age."
Heero looked up. Long ago, in his past, he had been told to always obey the rules of chivalry. It hadn't occurred to him since, and now it stirred things far back in his memory that he refused to think about or mention. "Do I have to kill you, too?" he asked, quietly.
"Heero! Are you listening to me? You need to help Duo, and get out of here, fast!" A change had come over the soldier's voice. It had a tone of urgency, fear, even.
"Huh?" Now Heero was slightly confused. He hadn't even known what he was going to do. But helping the other one was not one of his options. He shook it off. "This is a mission. I must not fail."
Zechs became exasperated. "This is not a mission, and unless you want to be killed--"
"I am a dead man."
"You are just a man in a boy's disguise," Zechs retorted coldly. "Leave now, or face the consequences."
Heero laughed. It was harsh, bitter. "Don't begin a battle you know you cannot win."
"I may not be victor, but look at yourself, Heero, look at yourself. My sister is standing not more than one hundred feet from the person you wish to kill. She has been awaiting her death from the very minute you told her it was inevitable. And you are weakened by new emotions. I am not seeking to win," he paused, static overpowering his transmission. "Rather than to merely create an understanding."
"Then there is nothing else to be said, for there is nothing to be understood."
Zechs felt a twinge of sorrow. He had not wanted to do this, but now he saw he must. "What of Relena?"
"She shall die with the rest of us, as her wish."
He was right. She was waiting for the day Heero would kill her. A small, bitter smile played at the edge of his lips. "How clever," he muttered.
And so the battle began, one on one, saber to saber.
Trowa was injured terribly. He could barely move. But he had to. Wufei was taking advantage of him, and he needed to get away and find the self-destruct button. Duo had done his job well, and now it was his turn. But how, and where?
He agreed to whatever Wufei was saying. He played sick, lost, and mentally gone, but he knew what Wufei was doing. He had formed his own ideas, and wasn't listening to anyone. His justification for those who had died in the hands of an enemy was still running strong. Death to all those that killed, and finally a suicide to cover it all. That was his idea of justification. But perhaps not entirely his own. In the past, Wufei wouldn't have been that crazed to even start to think of it. It was pure stupidity, nothing else to it. Someone or something must have taken him into their grasp. But that was a difficult task as it was.
He vaguely heard Wufei talking about the self-destruct program and perked up a little.
"...to let Duo get into the program was because they are all going to die, anyway."
Trowa nodded. This would work out just fine...their ideas were the same but for different reasons.
"The button is in your Gundam. I--"
He was cut off but a terrific crash and explosion. Both turned, though only Wufei saw what had caused the great noise, for Trowa was now having difficulties breathing and could not move at all. He inched his battered Gundam forward slowly, taking care not to let Wufei notice. He gasped for breath; some of his ribs felt as if they were being ripped open. The meteors were very handy, he thought to himself sullenly, gripping at its shadow as best he could. All he had to do now was wait, wait to come around again.
Wufei turned back. No Trowa, no Heavyarms Kai [custom]. He smirked. Death was on schedule.
The terrific crash had been Deathscythe Hell [custom]. Whether Duo had been in it or not could not be determined, and Wufei wondered what had caused it.
"What a sorry louse," a voice whispered softly. Great pools of green-blue peeked mournfully over a hydrogen needle-rocket view-screen from inside the satellite base. "Please forgive me," the shadowy voice choked out, taking aim. The needle-bomb took off, piercing through the air and went straight through the heart of the Gundam. There was silence for a split-second, then the Gundam exploded.
Trowa glanced back, wincing at the pain the sudden shock the explosion had caused. Wufei had been disintegrated. Or, at least, his Gundam had. He checked his radar, being extra-careful. He didn't know who was causing all this, and didn't intend on finding out before his death.
"Ca...can't....go...any...furth--" Duo gasped, slowly dragging himself across the icy terrain. Zechs had been thrown down, and he was unconscious. Relena rushed forward and pulled her brother into the dried, icy creek bed, trying to wrap his bruised and bleeding head. She did not shed a single tear, nor did she make any comment to her brother's assailant. There was nothing to say.
Duo looked back, then squeezed his eyes shut as best he could. A slow rush of blood filled his eyes, and he was forced to open them again. "Poor Deathscythe," he whispered clumsily. Both lips were thick and covered with dried blood, and his face was covered with bruises. Now if he could only get to Zech's fallen mobile suit while Heero's attention was averted...
Relena heard short spasms of coughing fits, coming from the left. She glanced over. She was shocked at what she saw. It was Duo, bleeding, bruised, torn, beaten up, crawling towards the fallen Tallgeese. She had thought he was as good as dead, his Gundam having blown up quite unexpectedly for no reason. It was assumed that Wufei had fired the shot, but one could not be sure. And how was he still surviving?
"Duo!" Relena called softly. She knew Heero would kill him if he saw his location. Not that it bothered her much, it was just the thought of killing altogether, and the taking advantage of the wounded.
He shook his head ever so slightly, then rested a moment as fresh blood seeped through his sleeve. He looked down. He was leaving a trail of blood, which Heero would be able to pick up on as easily as seeing the Sun at twenty miles. "Three more yards..." he muttered, checking that Wing Zero was still turned.
Suddenly a vicious grin spread across his face. "The God of Death has risen from the dead to fight once again!" he crowed madly, pulling himself up and boarding the Tallgeese. Zechs wasn't really unconscious, he was just trying to help. And Quatre had helped, at least that was what Duo thought. He was convinced that a tiny hydrogen needle had been shot at Deathscythe Hell [custom] when he opened the hatch, throwing him forward several yards. Wufei's Gundam had been placed directly behind, strategically [or not strategically] negotiating with Trowa at the time. This caused an onlooker to believe Wufei had been sneaking up, pretending, then coming around with a devastating piece of weaponry. But since the shot came from behind, Heero had no way of knowing the material used, and none of the Gundams had hydrogen needle-rockets.
As he manuevered the Tallgeese into a battle stance, Wing Zero had turned around. Duo had little control on the Tallgeese, and with his injuries he was seriously at a disadvantage. But neither cared at the moment, and the battle raged on.
"The button is in my Gundam," Trowa thought silently. He groped around behind the seat, finding a lever and a disengagement button. Then he felt the spiked surface of the detonation device. "I am sorry, forgive me." *click*
The colony exploded.
[author's note: Incomplete! I only have one more part to finish, but I haven't as of yet. Actually, I finished 1-4 last September...-_-;;;; Gomen nasai! Please R&R and tell me if you actually want me to finish it, because so far it doesn't seem as if it is turning out too well. Arigatou, thanks! Ja! 3]
And waited. When nothing happened, he began to really worry.
Heero made no attempt to move. He was slowly recuperating, eyes closed, working out the knots in his mind, creating a psychologically perfect shield. This would be the final trick he would ever play on Duo, if it even worked at all. When he had agreed with Wufei, he had thought it was part of the mission plan. How wrong it was. And now he had to fight it through, and perhaps kill not only himself but maybe his only true friend. He never openly admitted it, nor even admitted it to himself, but he did actually consider Duo a friend, rival, stubborn pilot, jabbermouth, whatever the case was, and even if Duo may not have realized it but he didn't save Heero twice for nothing. It was sort of a mutual agreement that neither really accepted. A strange bond that just didn't work out in the mind.
Heero's eyes flashed open.
Duo caught his breath as the saber lashed out and came up, coming down with an amazing force. Out of the deadlock momentarily, Duo quickly moved back and over. Too late. Receiving a heavy blow and a deep rut in his left arm, his shield, he sat down, hard. In a feeble attempt to recover himself, he managed to find himself in another bad situation. He had been standing in a dry creek bed, surrounded with strong ice and heavy snowdrifts. The tundra stretched out for miles in every direction, though around the long creek high banks were piled with icy snow. His right foot had gotten stuck in the drift when he was forced down, and without the left arm to support the Gundam he was immobile.
Heero slashed out again. His opponent lost the entire left arm. He took two steps forward, and held the saber point at Deathscythe Hell [custom]'s throat.
"Are you ready to die?" he said, his voice fierce and quiet.
Clutching at his side, fist clenched, Duo opened one eye. The pain was excruciating. He could barely see, odd colors flowing over and blurring his sight. He could feel a wetness coming from his side, and knew that very soon if he wasn't dead yet he would be. His head was throbbing, and he felt light-headed and dizzy. Yes, he was very ready to die, and not for the first time in his life.
He let both eyes close again. "I am ready to die, old friend. Stab me, and stab me fast." He opened his eyes again, without realizing he might as well keep them open because he couldn't see, anyway. Then he whispered, "I'm sorry, my Deathscythe. Maybe someday in Hell we can meet in better circumstances." He let out a long, melancholy sigh, and leaned back, letting his hands drop. A pool of reddish liquid was forming in the cockpit, and his clothing torn. He shook his head. "What am I talking about? Better?" He chuckled softly, then choked and coughed blood. "Heero! Kill me!" he shrieked desperately.
Heero edged closer, the saber grazing across the neckpiece, leaving a burned line. What was he doing? Wasn't Duo his...no. He was his enemy. Most definitely his enemy. Or wait. But why was he hesistating? He had his orders. The saber came to a rest, tip on Deathscythe Hell [custom]'s remaining shoulder. A voice was screaming inside him to save Duo from his misery, but he couldn't obey it. Then suddenly he couldn't stand it anymore. He began to raise the saber.
Wufei approached the machine-gun covered Heavyarms Kai [custom], attempting to connect with the pilot. He began his conversation, knowing Trowa was listening, even if it didn't seem that way.
CRASH. Wing Zero was thrown backwards by the sheer force. Heero looked behind him.
"Stop immediately, and step out of your Gundam, Heero Yuy." The voice. He knew it. It was Zechs, intervening in affairs not his again. When Heero did not move, he went on speaking. "What do you think you are doing? This is your fellow pilot!" Zechs turned the Mercurius around. In his mobile suit, his eyes narrowed. "By the rules of chivalry, you do not take advantage of the wounded. But I see this is not the case, being of this day and age."
Heero looked up. Long ago, in his past, he had been told to always obey the rules of chivalry. It hadn't occurred to him since, and now it stirred things far back in his memory that he refused to think about or mention. "Do I have to kill you, too?" he asked, quietly.
"Heero! Are you listening to me? You need to help Duo, and get out of here, fast!" A change had come over the soldier's voice. It had a tone of urgency, fear, even.
"Huh?" Now Heero was slightly confused. He hadn't even known what he was going to do. But helping the other one was not one of his options. He shook it off. "This is a mission. I must not fail."
Zechs became exasperated. "This is not a mission, and unless you want to be killed--"
"I am a dead man."
"You are just a man in a boy's disguise," Zechs retorted coldly. "Leave now, or face the consequences."
Heero laughed. It was harsh, bitter. "Don't begin a battle you know you cannot win."
"I may not be victor, but look at yourself, Heero, look at yourself. My sister is standing not more than one hundred feet from the person you wish to kill. She has been awaiting her death from the very minute you told her it was inevitable. And you are weakened by new emotions. I am not seeking to win," he paused, static overpowering his transmission. "Rather than to merely create an understanding."
"Then there is nothing else to be said, for there is nothing to be understood."
Zechs felt a twinge of sorrow. He had not wanted to do this, but now he saw he must. "What of Relena?"
"She shall die with the rest of us, as her wish."
He was right. She was waiting for the day Heero would kill her. A small, bitter smile played at the edge of his lips. "How clever," he muttered.
And so the battle began, one on one, saber to saber.
Trowa was injured terribly. He could barely move. But he had to. Wufei was taking advantage of him, and he needed to get away and find the self-destruct button. Duo had done his job well, and now it was his turn. But how, and where?
He agreed to whatever Wufei was saying. He played sick, lost, and mentally gone, but he knew what Wufei was doing. He had formed his own ideas, and wasn't listening to anyone. His justification for those who had died in the hands of an enemy was still running strong. Death to all those that killed, and finally a suicide to cover it all. That was his idea of justification. But perhaps not entirely his own. In the past, Wufei wouldn't have been that crazed to even start to think of it. It was pure stupidity, nothing else to it. Someone or something must have taken him into their grasp. But that was a difficult task as it was.
He vaguely heard Wufei talking about the self-destruct program and perked up a little.
"...to let Duo get into the program was because they are all going to die, anyway."
Trowa nodded. This would work out just fine...their ideas were the same but for different reasons.
"The button is in your Gundam. I--"
He was cut off but a terrific crash and explosion. Both turned, though only Wufei saw what had caused the great noise, for Trowa was now having difficulties breathing and could not move at all. He inched his battered Gundam forward slowly, taking care not to let Wufei notice. He gasped for breath; some of his ribs felt as if they were being ripped open. The meteors were very handy, he thought to himself sullenly, gripping at its shadow as best he could. All he had to do now was wait, wait to come around again.
Wufei turned back. No Trowa, no Heavyarms Kai [custom]. He smirked. Death was on schedule.
The terrific crash had been Deathscythe Hell [custom]. Whether Duo had been in it or not could not be determined, and Wufei wondered what had caused it.
"What a sorry louse," a voice whispered softly. Great pools of green-blue peeked mournfully over a hydrogen needle-rocket view-screen from inside the satellite base. "Please forgive me," the shadowy voice choked out, taking aim. The needle-bomb took off, piercing through the air and went straight through the heart of the Gundam. There was silence for a split-second, then the Gundam exploded.
Trowa glanced back, wincing at the pain the sudden shock the explosion had caused. Wufei had been disintegrated. Or, at least, his Gundam had. He checked his radar, being extra-careful. He didn't know who was causing all this, and didn't intend on finding out before his death.
"Ca...can't....go...any...furth--" Duo gasped, slowly dragging himself across the icy terrain. Zechs had been thrown down, and he was unconscious. Relena rushed forward and pulled her brother into the dried, icy creek bed, trying to wrap his bruised and bleeding head. She did not shed a single tear, nor did she make any comment to her brother's assailant. There was nothing to say.
Duo looked back, then squeezed his eyes shut as best he could. A slow rush of blood filled his eyes, and he was forced to open them again. "Poor Deathscythe," he whispered clumsily. Both lips were thick and covered with dried blood, and his face was covered with bruises. Now if he could only get to Zech's fallen mobile suit while Heero's attention was averted...
Relena heard short spasms of coughing fits, coming from the left. She glanced over. She was shocked at what she saw. It was Duo, bleeding, bruised, torn, beaten up, crawling towards the fallen Tallgeese. She had thought he was as good as dead, his Gundam having blown up quite unexpectedly for no reason. It was assumed that Wufei had fired the shot, but one could not be sure. And how was he still surviving?
"Duo!" Relena called softly. She knew Heero would kill him if he saw his location. Not that it bothered her much, it was just the thought of killing altogether, and the taking advantage of the wounded.
He shook his head ever so slightly, then rested a moment as fresh blood seeped through his sleeve. He looked down. He was leaving a trail of blood, which Heero would be able to pick up on as easily as seeing the Sun at twenty miles. "Three more yards..." he muttered, checking that Wing Zero was still turned.
Suddenly a vicious grin spread across his face. "The God of Death has risen from the dead to fight once again!" he crowed madly, pulling himself up and boarding the Tallgeese. Zechs wasn't really unconscious, he was just trying to help. And Quatre had helped, at least that was what Duo thought. He was convinced that a tiny hydrogen needle had been shot at Deathscythe Hell [custom] when he opened the hatch, throwing him forward several yards. Wufei's Gundam had been placed directly behind, strategically [or not strategically] negotiating with Trowa at the time. This caused an onlooker to believe Wufei had been sneaking up, pretending, then coming around with a devastating piece of weaponry. But since the shot came from behind, Heero had no way of knowing the material used, and none of the Gundams had hydrogen needle-rockets.
As he manuevered the Tallgeese into a battle stance, Wing Zero had turned around. Duo had little control on the Tallgeese, and with his injuries he was seriously at a disadvantage. But neither cared at the moment, and the battle raged on.
"The button is in my Gundam," Trowa thought silently. He groped around behind the seat, finding a lever and a disengagement button. Then he felt the spiked surface of the detonation device. "I am sorry, forgive me." *click*
The colony exploded.
[author's note: Incomplete! I only have one more part to finish, but I haven't as of yet. Actually, I finished 1-4 last September...-_-;;;; Gomen nasai! Please R&R and tell me if you actually want me to finish it, because so far it doesn't seem as if it is turning out too well. Arigatou, thanks! Ja! 3]