Disclaimer - Gundam Wing and its characters belong to Sunrise Sotsu/Bandai.
Warnings - Kind of gory at one part (nothing too descriptive), cussing, death. An OC (original character, actually 2), but they add to the flavor and, believe me, they aren't self inserts
Author's Random Ranting - I thought this up in English class, and couldn't get it out of my mind. The Maxwell Plantation isn't, as far as I know, a real plantation in southeastern America, but it fit my storyline. I know that so many years from the present there probably won't be plantations, but bear with me. Also, this is a strictly post-Civil War plantation, that has nothing to do with slavery. There are no slaves, I don't accept or tolerate slavery or racism. Any attempt made to flame me about the use of a plantation, will be posted on my website in my soon-to-be flamers book. If you are offended by this in any way, please don't read this story.
Sweet Roses Wither - Prologue
The wind gently dipped the green colored grain in a swirling tango of invisible air. It pushed the windmill by the stream with creaking hinges, and scattered the dandelions at Duo Maxwell's feet. 'Why the Maxwell Plantation? And why didn't Father Maxwell tell me about it before?' Duo shifted the pack on his shoulder as he walked down the road, the hill before him blocking his sight of the plantation house. The small plot of wheat bobbed as though in greeting to him in the wind, and the huge fields of cotton seemed to stretch to kingdom come, and back again. The white brick plantation came into view as Duo came to the crest of the hill in the dusty road, and he could see where the cotton ended, and the water began. Rice paddies bridged the gap between water and land, and Duo's heart sank as he saw her standing on the top step of the house. Gracie Louise Maxwell was an elegant, older woman with her thick gray hair woven into a tight bun atop her head. Father Maxwell's sister strode down the steps to meet Duo. He smiled a relaxed smile at her and said,
"I'm glad I'm made it."
"Thank you, Mr. ... I seem to have forgotten your last name. Call me Lady Maxwell," she looked at the young boy quizically.
"Maxwell. Duo Maxwell," Duo answered, smiling again.
Lady Maxwell smiled and said,
"Well, I'm glad I found the letter my brother wrote not long before his death. In it he mentioned you, and it wasn't until I saw your name on the shuttle departure list from L2 that I remembered that letter."
Duo worked for Lady Maxwell for the remainder of the month of May. He rented a small, one room house on the edge of the fields. Everything fell into place for him, until one humid May afternoon, Duo's past came to southeastern America, and slapped him in the face.
Sweet Roses Wither Ch. 1 - Broken Toil
Duo Maxwell flexed his fingers around the handle of the shovel he had just used to dig the grave with. Lady Maxwell had only been 65, but her heart had failed her. One of the other few farmhands had helped him, nodded curtly, and left. 'Like anyone gives a goddamn about me nowadays,' Duo thought to himself, throwing down the shovel. The young man carried his lunch under the willow tree by the mill pond, and looked into the smooth water. The clouds towered over him as the depths reflected the surrounding area. Duo didn't want to stay anymore. He wanted to leave, to forget all the pain this place had brought him. Forget all the physical labor he had broken over this land. The land was going to be sold any day to pay off outstanding debts, and he'd have only his empty apartment and pictures of Hilde waiting for him on L2. He couldn't go back to L2, couldn't bear to see Hilde with that other man. 'We can still be friends, Duo,' she had said. Duo lowered his body to the cool grass, and propped himself up on his elbows, forgetting about his lunch, and overlooked the massive land. He let his head fall to the ground, and fell asleep with the sun falling over his body.
A sharp pain in his side brought Duo to consciousness. He groaned, and tried to fall into the clutches of subconciousness again, but another blow to his ribs jolted him awake. It was well into the night, and the sun had set long ago.
"Get up, Maxwell. You have a lotta work to do, lazy," someone, the old gardener Mr. Carson, said irritably.
Duo struggled up to a sitting position, and brushed his bangs back out of his eyes. He stood and followed the other man away from from the pond. When they reached the plantation house, Duo realized that he had come this way for nothing. He turned to make the long trek back to his house on the fields, but the gardener stopped him by saying,
"I took the liberty of movin ' your stuff over here, Maxwell."
"Wha?"
"The old lady's will reading was today. Shocked the shit outta her family when she left the whole God forsaken place to you. Big responsibilty for a young kid like yourself, Maxwell. You know, her distant cousins only came to see what piece of the pie they'd get. You're lucky I'm glad that you got it 'stead of them," the old man chuckled before saying, "Now you gotta find someone to rent that shack of yours on the fields. We need more work, and seein' as how you got the money now, you better get your ass some rest, you got a lot of work tomorrow."
Duo stood there, completely stunned as the gardener returned to his cabin. Duo looked up the steps of the dilapidated plantation house. It reminded him of old Lady Maxwell. Elegant centuries ago, it was now a sad shadow that reminded him of his own shattered past. Shaking his head free of the reverie, Duo walked around to the side door of the house after finding the two massive front doors locked. He was tired and didn't care where his stuff was, a look at the clock determined the time was past nine o'clock, so he camped out in a first floor room on a couch. That night, dreams and nightmares twisted together in a whirlwind of chaos and confusion. In the middle, were the two people that were the reason Duo had fled the colonies in favor of Earth.
~begin nightmare~
Hilde walked into the middle of the black room. There seemed to be no walls, but Duo was chained onto something in the dark oblivion. Hilde bit her lip and looked over her shoulder nervously. He tried to talk to her, to shout at her, to ask her why, but he couldn't find his voice. She wrung her hands and said,
"We can still be friends, Duo. We can still be friends, still be friends, still be friends," her voiced echoed.
Heero walked out of the darkness, and put his arms on Hilde's waist. He smirked that 'You know I'll always be better than you' smirk that Duo hated, and said,
"Hilde and I decided we're a little more compatible than you were with her. Glad to see you Duo, goodbye. By the way, Relena sends her regards."
Hilde walked off, and Heero grabbed Duo's shirt, pulling the braided boy closer saying,
"I always finish my missions. Relena was just another mission."
The walls and the invisible floor collapsed along with the chains that held Duo, and he plummetted into the dark crevasse. He hit the ground with a bone jarring crunch and looked around. He was in Relena and Heero's apartment, and red paint was spattered all over the walls and floors. No, it was blood. Duo saw Relena kneeling on the ground, clutching her slit throat. She tried to scream for help, but wavered and fell. Her face was ashen, and in a few moments, she lay still. A wave a nausea overtook Duo, and he scrambled, trying to find his feet. He sprinted toward the door, and when he flung it open, Hilde and Heero stood in the doorway, arms entwined in a passionate, lusty kiss. Heero's hands were red, and Duo screamed, and screamed, and screamed louder still when a dagger was plunged into his back over and over and over...
~end nightmare~
Duo woke drenched in a cold sweat, his hand clutching his heaving chest as he gasped for air. He waited for his heartbeat to return to normal, and looked out the window at the predawn sky. He had left L2 the day after Relena's funeral, and a month before Hilde and Heero's wedding. He still didn't want to stay at the Maxwell Plantation. He didn't want to have to face questions or rumors about his past any longer at this God forsaken place. He was startled out of his musings by the sound of the clock striking. Having no desire to sleep again, he walked to the cabin of Mr. Carson, and slipped a note under the door. On it, he had scribbled something about giving the responsibilty to the old man to find someone to occupy Duo's deserted residance. The rice was still a few months away from being harvested, and the plantation would need help now more than ever.
Later that morning, Duo, with the help of the ever sarcastic Mr. Carson, pried one of the tiny closets in the house open. They found two small shoeboxes, and carried them to the dining oom table. Duo opened one, and found envelope after envelope. He quickly closed the box, and upon seeing his look of mixed despair, Mr. Carson asked,
"What's in 'em?"
"Bills. They're all unpaid bills. Crammed in these damn little shoe boxes is our demise in debt. Why didn't she pay them?"
"Maxwell Plantation don' make enough to pay that debt. She never wanted to admit that her beautiful plantation was fallin' under, but it is. All good things come to an end, Maxwell, an' this good thing has long since ended."
Two days later, they had found a new employee. The afternoon was one of those that the southeast is famous for. Hot and humid, the air barely moved over Duo as he weeded the tiny vegetable plot outside the kitchen. The new worker was scheduled to arrive any minute, and Duo wanted to look like he was doing some work, so that he could make the new person do it. Resting one hand on the handle of the hoe, Duo used the back of his other hand to wipe his forehead. He peered through the shimmering heat waves. He shook his head several times to clear his mind. A figure walked toward the plantation on the old dirt road Duo had walked what seemed like so long ago. As the specter got closer, Duo could see it was no apparition, but a man stirring up the loose dirt. He continued to work, eventually forgetting the walker as he lost sight of him in a deep dip in the road. Duo walked to the shed on the other side of the house to get the wheelbarrow, and when he turned the corner on his return, Mr. Carson stood with the new worker.
"I'd like to introduce you to-" the old man started.
"We know each other," Duo spat.
"You do?"
"Yeah, we do," the other young man answered slowly, "Hello, Duo."
"Hello, Heero."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know! It's short! I'm going to try to make the chapters longer. Please review and tell me if you like it! To all fans who think Heero's OOC, wait for the next parts and see where I'm taking it! Flames will be used to roast marshmallows!
Warnings - Kind of gory at one part (nothing too descriptive), cussing, death. An OC (original character, actually 2), but they add to the flavor and, believe me, they aren't self inserts
Author's Random Ranting - I thought this up in English class, and couldn't get it out of my mind. The Maxwell Plantation isn't, as far as I know, a real plantation in southeastern America, but it fit my storyline. I know that so many years from the present there probably won't be plantations, but bear with me. Also, this is a strictly post-Civil War plantation, that has nothing to do with slavery. There are no slaves, I don't accept or tolerate slavery or racism. Any attempt made to flame me about the use of a plantation, will be posted on my website in my soon-to-be flamers book. If you are offended by this in any way, please don't read this story.
Sweet Roses Wither - Prologue
The wind gently dipped the green colored grain in a swirling tango of invisible air. It pushed the windmill by the stream with creaking hinges, and scattered the dandelions at Duo Maxwell's feet. 'Why the Maxwell Plantation? And why didn't Father Maxwell tell me about it before?' Duo shifted the pack on his shoulder as he walked down the road, the hill before him blocking his sight of the plantation house. The small plot of wheat bobbed as though in greeting to him in the wind, and the huge fields of cotton seemed to stretch to kingdom come, and back again. The white brick plantation came into view as Duo came to the crest of the hill in the dusty road, and he could see where the cotton ended, and the water began. Rice paddies bridged the gap between water and land, and Duo's heart sank as he saw her standing on the top step of the house. Gracie Louise Maxwell was an elegant, older woman with her thick gray hair woven into a tight bun atop her head. Father Maxwell's sister strode down the steps to meet Duo. He smiled a relaxed smile at her and said,
"I'm glad I'm made it."
"Thank you, Mr. ... I seem to have forgotten your last name. Call me Lady Maxwell," she looked at the young boy quizically.
"Maxwell. Duo Maxwell," Duo answered, smiling again.
Lady Maxwell smiled and said,
"Well, I'm glad I found the letter my brother wrote not long before his death. In it he mentioned you, and it wasn't until I saw your name on the shuttle departure list from L2 that I remembered that letter."
Duo worked for Lady Maxwell for the remainder of the month of May. He rented a small, one room house on the edge of the fields. Everything fell into place for him, until one humid May afternoon, Duo's past came to southeastern America, and slapped him in the face.
Sweet Roses Wither Ch. 1 - Broken Toil
Duo Maxwell flexed his fingers around the handle of the shovel he had just used to dig the grave with. Lady Maxwell had only been 65, but her heart had failed her. One of the other few farmhands had helped him, nodded curtly, and left. 'Like anyone gives a goddamn about me nowadays,' Duo thought to himself, throwing down the shovel. The young man carried his lunch under the willow tree by the mill pond, and looked into the smooth water. The clouds towered over him as the depths reflected the surrounding area. Duo didn't want to stay anymore. He wanted to leave, to forget all the pain this place had brought him. Forget all the physical labor he had broken over this land. The land was going to be sold any day to pay off outstanding debts, and he'd have only his empty apartment and pictures of Hilde waiting for him on L2. He couldn't go back to L2, couldn't bear to see Hilde with that other man. 'We can still be friends, Duo,' she had said. Duo lowered his body to the cool grass, and propped himself up on his elbows, forgetting about his lunch, and overlooked the massive land. He let his head fall to the ground, and fell asleep with the sun falling over his body.
A sharp pain in his side brought Duo to consciousness. He groaned, and tried to fall into the clutches of subconciousness again, but another blow to his ribs jolted him awake. It was well into the night, and the sun had set long ago.
"Get up, Maxwell. You have a lotta work to do, lazy," someone, the old gardener Mr. Carson, said irritably.
Duo struggled up to a sitting position, and brushed his bangs back out of his eyes. He stood and followed the other man away from from the pond. When they reached the plantation house, Duo realized that he had come this way for nothing. He turned to make the long trek back to his house on the fields, but the gardener stopped him by saying,
"I took the liberty of movin ' your stuff over here, Maxwell."
"Wha?"
"The old lady's will reading was today. Shocked the shit outta her family when she left the whole God forsaken place to you. Big responsibilty for a young kid like yourself, Maxwell. You know, her distant cousins only came to see what piece of the pie they'd get. You're lucky I'm glad that you got it 'stead of them," the old man chuckled before saying, "Now you gotta find someone to rent that shack of yours on the fields. We need more work, and seein' as how you got the money now, you better get your ass some rest, you got a lot of work tomorrow."
Duo stood there, completely stunned as the gardener returned to his cabin. Duo looked up the steps of the dilapidated plantation house. It reminded him of old Lady Maxwell. Elegant centuries ago, it was now a sad shadow that reminded him of his own shattered past. Shaking his head free of the reverie, Duo walked around to the side door of the house after finding the two massive front doors locked. He was tired and didn't care where his stuff was, a look at the clock determined the time was past nine o'clock, so he camped out in a first floor room on a couch. That night, dreams and nightmares twisted together in a whirlwind of chaos and confusion. In the middle, were the two people that were the reason Duo had fled the colonies in favor of Earth.
~begin nightmare~
Hilde walked into the middle of the black room. There seemed to be no walls, but Duo was chained onto something in the dark oblivion. Hilde bit her lip and looked over her shoulder nervously. He tried to talk to her, to shout at her, to ask her why, but he couldn't find his voice. She wrung her hands and said,
"We can still be friends, Duo. We can still be friends, still be friends, still be friends," her voiced echoed.
Heero walked out of the darkness, and put his arms on Hilde's waist. He smirked that 'You know I'll always be better than you' smirk that Duo hated, and said,
"Hilde and I decided we're a little more compatible than you were with her. Glad to see you Duo, goodbye. By the way, Relena sends her regards."
Hilde walked off, and Heero grabbed Duo's shirt, pulling the braided boy closer saying,
"I always finish my missions. Relena was just another mission."
The walls and the invisible floor collapsed along with the chains that held Duo, and he plummetted into the dark crevasse. He hit the ground with a bone jarring crunch and looked around. He was in Relena and Heero's apartment, and red paint was spattered all over the walls and floors. No, it was blood. Duo saw Relena kneeling on the ground, clutching her slit throat. She tried to scream for help, but wavered and fell. Her face was ashen, and in a few moments, she lay still. A wave a nausea overtook Duo, and he scrambled, trying to find his feet. He sprinted toward the door, and when he flung it open, Hilde and Heero stood in the doorway, arms entwined in a passionate, lusty kiss. Heero's hands were red, and Duo screamed, and screamed, and screamed louder still when a dagger was plunged into his back over and over and over...
~end nightmare~
Duo woke drenched in a cold sweat, his hand clutching his heaving chest as he gasped for air. He waited for his heartbeat to return to normal, and looked out the window at the predawn sky. He had left L2 the day after Relena's funeral, and a month before Hilde and Heero's wedding. He still didn't want to stay at the Maxwell Plantation. He didn't want to have to face questions or rumors about his past any longer at this God forsaken place. He was startled out of his musings by the sound of the clock striking. Having no desire to sleep again, he walked to the cabin of Mr. Carson, and slipped a note under the door. On it, he had scribbled something about giving the responsibilty to the old man to find someone to occupy Duo's deserted residance. The rice was still a few months away from being harvested, and the plantation would need help now more than ever.
Later that morning, Duo, with the help of the ever sarcastic Mr. Carson, pried one of the tiny closets in the house open. They found two small shoeboxes, and carried them to the dining oom table. Duo opened one, and found envelope after envelope. He quickly closed the box, and upon seeing his look of mixed despair, Mr. Carson asked,
"What's in 'em?"
"Bills. They're all unpaid bills. Crammed in these damn little shoe boxes is our demise in debt. Why didn't she pay them?"
"Maxwell Plantation don' make enough to pay that debt. She never wanted to admit that her beautiful plantation was fallin' under, but it is. All good things come to an end, Maxwell, an' this good thing has long since ended."
Two days later, they had found a new employee. The afternoon was one of those that the southeast is famous for. Hot and humid, the air barely moved over Duo as he weeded the tiny vegetable plot outside the kitchen. The new worker was scheduled to arrive any minute, and Duo wanted to look like he was doing some work, so that he could make the new person do it. Resting one hand on the handle of the hoe, Duo used the back of his other hand to wipe his forehead. He peered through the shimmering heat waves. He shook his head several times to clear his mind. A figure walked toward the plantation on the old dirt road Duo had walked what seemed like so long ago. As the specter got closer, Duo could see it was no apparition, but a man stirring up the loose dirt. He continued to work, eventually forgetting the walker as he lost sight of him in a deep dip in the road. Duo walked to the shed on the other side of the house to get the wheelbarrow, and when he turned the corner on his return, Mr. Carson stood with the new worker.
"I'd like to introduce you to-" the old man started.
"We know each other," Duo spat.
"You do?"
"Yeah, we do," the other young man answered slowly, "Hello, Duo."
"Hello, Heero."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know! It's short! I'm going to try to make the chapters longer. Please review and tell me if you like it! To all fans who think Heero's OOC, wait for the next parts and see where I'm taking it! Flames will be used to roast marshmallows!