Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, but it is nice to
dream.
Author's
note: They
say that almost dieing brings people together, well if that is true then the
G-boys are almost the same person. I wrote this story because I wondered what
would happen if one of the pilots died.
I now that most of the pilots are a bit ooc, but this is after the end
of the first serise and everyone has time for their masks to crack a bit.
I
would also like to add that I do like Duo.
He is one of my favorite people in Gundam Wing. So don't flame me. Flame me and I will feed it to my resident teething kitten.
Death
Duo was resting quietly on
the hospital bed. His deathly pale face
was framed by his dark hair and his bright violet eyes were closed as he slept
off the operation. Watching over him as he slept was the G-boys, Relena, Sally,
Noin, and Zechs.
"Will
he be all right?" asked Heero his normally hard and empty voice was soft and
concerned.
"He
has a hole in his side the size of a basket ball, internal injurys, third
degree burns, and has lost alot of blood.
I doubt he will live through the night." said Sally her voice sounded
tired.
"If Duo hadn't deflected that beam we would
all be dead now...." said Zechs quietly
The
four boys narrowed their eyes at the memory.
Flashback.
The
last of the Whitefang had used the blue prints for the Libra's main cannon to
build a ultimate cannon. With its power
it had the abiltity to blow up the earth, thankfully it took up so much power
that it could only be used once.
So
Gundam pilots went back into space with their Gundams in the hopes of
destroying it before it was complete.
Sadly their source had lied to them.
The cannon was fully operational, and waiting for them.
They
had sent Duo in to scout around while the rest attacked the front defense of
mobil suits to keep the enemy busy.
Duo's warning reached them to late.
"Oh
god. Guy's you have to take that cannon
out now! Its prepairing to fire!"
No
answer came from his hail.
"Guys
look out!!"
"What?" Heero and Quatre turned around just in time
to see a large beam of power making its way toward them. For a moment the four boys knew what a deer
feels when it is traped in the head lights of a car.
Then
Duo was there. He closed the Deathsythe
Hell's wings just as the beam reached them.
"Aaaaaahhhhh!" all who had heard Duo scream would never
forget the desperation in that cry, but the shielding on the Deathsythes wings did
the trick. The beam was deflected
slightly, it went hurtiling through space destroying most of the enemy tarus
suits and then ending by harmlessly hitting a passing astroid, completely
destroying it.
"You
did it Duo!" cried a happy Quatre
Silence.
"Duo?"
Worry was creaping through the edges of Trowa's mask.
The
empty void of space.
"Duo,
you baka, if this is a joke..." threatened Wufei
The
darkness of oblivion.
"Duo
come in." Heero, too, was starting to feel the icy hand of fear.
The
peace... of death.
The
Deathsythe Hell floated past them. Completely
without power and with no hand at the helm. As it turned the boys could see the
damage that beam had done, the area were the pilot was housed was half
disinagreated, and inside they could see Duo limp in the pilot seat.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The
Gundams towed the tattered remains of the Deathsythe into Peacemillion's bay.
"Sally! Get over here with your medical team. Duo's hurt!" Wufei's voice was heard all over the bay.
Heero
leaped up to the Deathsythe's main hatch and started to pry away the half
melted remains so the med team could actually get to Duo.
The
pain twisted metal was sharp and strong and Heero could feel the its teeth as it
bit into his flesh as it fought him for the life of its pilot. Trowa came up to help as did Quatre, Wufei
was busy helping Sally and the doctors,
finally with an agonizing screach of surrender the metal moved and they
could finally could see all of Duo's limp form.
He
had not moved in position during all this time and it didn't look like he was
moving at all. The boys could see that
there was a hole in Duo's side that was bleeding profusely, his helmet's glass
was covered with a spider web of cracks, and he was as still as death. With little difficulty they managed to pull
the helmet off reveal Duo's pale face.
The blood that crawled sluggishly
down the side of his face gave off such a sharp contrast to the whiteness of
his face that it had the effect of a shout.
Carefully
Heero placed his fingers to Duo's neck and waited. Several heart beats passed with no movement or sound and then he
felt it, a faint flutter of life beneath his fingers.
"He's
alive!" shouted Heero to the waiting med techs. Carefully the three boys pulled Duo out of the now broken shell
that was the Deathsythe and handed him over to Sally.
All
four of them felt hope race through their bodies, Duo was strong and he could
survive this.
End of Flashback
"Can
we see him?" asked Quatre
"Yes."
said Sally "What ever you do, don't try to wake him, that will only shorten
what is left of his life. If he does
wake up on his own try to keep him calm, it may help him live longer. He may be a bit confused at first, but it is
only the pain killers."
Dead
quiet the boys filed into the hospital room.
Relena, thinking that the boys would want to be alone with Duo, turned
to leave with Sally and the rest. Heero turned slightly, and noticing that
Relena had not followed them, grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. She was the physical form of his soul and he
wanted her near him.
Duo's
frightfully pale skin seemed to blend into the white bed sheets, making him
almost invisible. The boy's love for
life and humor had left him, and now all that remained was a used and shrunking
husk. He seemed so small now, none of
the normal life that seemed to follow him every were, even in the worst
possible conditions, was anywhere to be seen.
It almost hurt to look at him like this.
Heero's
hand, which still held Relena's, tightened almost to the point of hurting
Relena and he pulled her closer to him.
The four boy's eyes met, they had never thought Duo would be the first
of them to die.
Duo
was the most innocent out of all the Gundam pilots, even Quatre. They had all thought that Heero would be the
first to go, then maybe Trowa, and then a coin flip between Quatre and
Wufei. None of them had even thought of
Duo. He was the most mentaly stable and
had learned to live with death. Heero
himself still felt the hand of fear every time he killed. Sadly it looked like it would be Duo who
would be the first to fall into the hands of the God of Death, ironicly the
same person who Duo named himself after.
A
soft noise coming from the bed pulled the boys from their thoughts. Duo was waking up. He stirred slightly and then opened his eyes and looked at them
all.
"Hey
guy's, whats up?" He asked quietly, his
voice still slightly slurred and harsh from the pain killers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Despite
Sally's prediction of death for the first day Duo was still alive three days
after he got hit by that beam.
That
day everyone was visiting him, the G-boys, Noin, Sally, Relena, Catherine, and
Zechs. They were talking and having a
great time. Hope was high that he was
recovering well and might be able to leave the hospital in a few weeks. Duo himself was able to laugh without pain or
fear that he might weaken himself and enjoyed ever time that the opertunity to
laugh came up.
The
talk went from many subjects, like Noin and Zechs wedding to how the preventers
were doing and what was Duo going to do when he got out of the hospital. To soon, though, Duo found himself fighting
off an intense weariness. The
exhaustion he felt held down his limbs, draged at his eye lids, trying to force
them to close, and weighed heavily on his lungs making each breath a battle. He tried to stay awake, after all every one
was here just to see him. He did his best, but the more he fought the more
tired he felt. He could feel the fingers
of some dark abyss trying to pull him in as it flowed around its heart forcing
it to become still, crawling into his mind and filling it with a dence fog that
made thinking strait almost impossible, and filled his ears with the most gentle
of songs trying to coaxes him into its waiting embrace. Duo soon found that it was beyond his power
to fight any longer and took one last look at all his friends, the only family
he had ever known, then let himself fall into the darkness that was beckoning
him so sweetly.
Few
of the group noticed how tired Duo was and, at first, none of them noticed when
Duo lost his last battle. The one battle
that could never be won.
"What
do you think Duo?" asked Trowa watching a fuming Wufei
"I
would not look good in pink Trowa!" stated Wufei sharply but Trowa wasn't
listening anymore.
"Duo?"
The tone that Trowa used made everyone look at Duo.
Duo
wasn't moving.
He
wasn't breathing.
He
was still and quiet on the bed looking as peaceful and innocent as a child in
sleep and, as they watched him the one thing that they would remember for all
time, on his face there was the faint smile of pure, untainted happiness.
"Sally?"
asked Quatre afraid that he already knew the answer.
Sally
moved to the edge of the bed and placed her hand at Duo's neck.
"Jim,"
she called to one of her med staff her voice strained.
"Yes
mam?" asked Jim answering
"Put
this in the logs: Duo Maxwell died on March 3rd, 196 AC. Cause of death, beam strike to the side.
Lived three days after the fatal wound was inflicted."
"Yes
mam." Jim left.
For
a few moments there was nothing but a stuned silence, then Howard entered.
"Well
it was hard but we finally repaired the Deathsythe Hell, when will Duo be able
to pilot it?"
Tears
started to flow down Relena's and Catherines faces, Heero pulled Relena into
his arms and hid his face in her hair, not wanting to face this new hurtly life
had thrown at him, Catherine went to Trowa, who held her tightly and let her
cry into his shirt and tears started to flow down his mask wich was starting to
crack, Wufei and Quatre could just stare in disbelief, Sally went over to Wufei
trying to help him, Noin hid her face in Zechs' shirt, and Zechs just held her.
It
was Zechs who answered Howard.
"He won't need ever it again."
"My people are
in the world again. No sorrow will live
in me as long as that joy-- save one, and I thank you for that too. Farewell, good magician. I will try to go home."
The Last
Unicorn page 244
by Peter S.
Beagle
End.