Blood Red

By Hachi Mitsu

07.25.00 ~ 08.05.00

Phase Three

Out in the spring rain
I hear him calling my name
Like the scent of a rose
It leaves my soul
Blood red

I looked over Heero's shoulder in question. What the hell did he mean? Why does every say I'm slow when they never tell me anything to begin with? Geez, death doesn't get much respect these days. Sigh.

            Before I could put my displeasures into a very colorful string of verbal complaint, Heero was already walking around the room, gathering the various weapons we stashed away. Hm . . . What's the . . .? Leaning over I squinted at the computer. Hn. If no one is gonna tell me, I'll find out myself. Who needs that jerk?

            A message blinked on the screen of the laptop.

Be at the dance tonight.

You shall find the answers, which you seek.

---

            . . . Oh. Talk about too much stuff in one day. Oh damn. The dance. It's an annual thing that the boarding school holds. The entire student body is probably gonna be there. If something happens there, a lot of people are gonna get hurt.

/No really Maxwell./

/I don't have time to chat with you./ I could *feel* my inner voice dripping with sarcasm.

/So, ready to mess up again?/

If that's a snicker I heard, I'm really going to kill that "inner voice" of mines. Once and for all. Screwing the fact that the only way to get rid of it is probably going to kill me too. This is going to be a *long* night.

***

            I stepped out of the bathroom, a towel rubbing against my soaking hair. We still had an hour before the mission starts and there was no way in hell, I was going another minute without showering off the blood and under unidentified. . . stuff- drying against my skin and hair. Yuck.

            Reaching my favorite place in front of the mirror- hey, even death needs vanity sometimes- I slipped on a clean black shirt over my newly bandaged shoulder. It was really nice, one of my few clothing articles that are actually worth holding onto. Silk with loose sleeves, which gathered at my wrists. The collar was laced together at the chest with slim black ribbons. At one wrist was a leather sheath, holding a 5 inch surgical steel Jaguar. The soft bellowing sleeves hid it quite well. Nope, no knife there.

            Grimacing, I gathered my now not-as-dripping-wet hair back. The wound on my shoulder hasn't hurt nearly as much as before, but was still awfully sore whenever I put in into any odd position. Great. Brushing my hair is going to be a real bitch. And I don't even want to *think* about braiding it.

            I heard a snicker from behind me. A quick check in the mirror confirmed its origin. Heero sat on the bed, cleaning one of his guns. The smirk on his face suggested that he had guessed my problem.

            Strolling towards the bed, I put a pout on my face as I shook the brush in his face. Only ending in looking pathetic, rather than threatening.

            "Oi! What's so funny?!" Heero really has a weird sense of humor. I mean who else laughs at mass destruction and death... except me. But that's different. Really.

            "Hn. You should just cut that hair of yours."

            "Oh, what do you- eep!"

            I yelped in surprise and utter shock as I felt Heero tugged at my hair, pulling until I was sitting beside him.

"Oi! What the hell are you doing?!"

            I glared, rubbing my offended scalp. Itai! That *really* hurt. But I get the feeling that it would have hurt a *lot* more if Heero had intended for it to. Hn. Not exactly promoting in the pride department. If it wasn't Heero we're talking about, I woulda decked him to hell by now. And probably get dragged along for the ride, but anyways.

            "Give me the brush."

            Dumbly, I handed him it. Hn, that's strange, the drug should have worn out by now, so why is Heero still acting like he's high on some strange mind altering substance? Then again, maybe its *me* whose a bit off in the mental facility. Yeah. And this would all just be some delusion called upon by an over stressed mind. Joy. At least it's a lot more welcoming than a psychotic Heero. Wait, what am I saying? He already is psychotic. Sigh.

            Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the gentle rhythm of the metal bristles of the comb running though my hair. Kinda soothing. If you ignore the fact that it was Heero doing the brushing. I think my mind musta been half way to dreamland when a soft whisper yanked me to reality again.

            "Is that ok?"

            Huh? I realized that Heero had finished brushing my now dry and softened tresses. Entwining it into its usual braid, he tossed it over my shoulder, a bit reluctantly, I think. I nodded. It was really weird, the way he was acting. Normally, I'd just be a bit suspicious, but now, I'm plain scared. Really. After a long stretch of silence, I was about to peek over my shoulders when he spoke again.

            "Don't get hurt tonight, Duo."

            I felt his warm breath brush against the back of my neck. Eep. Din't know he was that close. Alright, *now* I can be scarred. Before my mind responded, I had already stood up and attempted to put some distance between us. Yeah, real inconspicuous. "Ne Heero, are you sure you're better? I mean if you're not, you can always stay- "

            "Baka" Heero had that smirk on his face again. "I'm fine." Suuuuuure. I believe you.

            Before I could choke out a nervous laughter and make a break for the safety of Quatre's room, Heero had walked in front of me, clasping my hand with his. Slipping something into my palm, he closed my fingers over it and walked away.

"I'll meet you and the others at the designated spot after the reconnaissance." With that he released my hand and slipped silently out the door. The smooth bastard.

It wasn't until I heard the echoes of the elevator close somewhere in the hall beyond my door, did I finally look down at my slack arm, fingers still curled around the object. Lifting it up, I opened my hand.

It was a chain. Polished silver links entwined together into some delicate yet sturdy pattern. At on end of the chain was a rose carved from violet crystals. Kinda like the color of my eyes. Beautiful, of course. Me? Vain? If you haven't made that connection yet, well, shinigami has no words for you. I smirked. Glancing at the chain again, I realized that the rose was actually made out of separate petals of the crystal. Each outlined and secured with silver.

Where in the world did Heero get this thing? Actually, I probably wouldn't want to know. I slipped it my wrist. Hm. Feminine? Naw. It was way too elegant. Heh.

I glanced back at the desk, the message still flashing on the screen. I knew I should get going, Quatre, Wufei and Trowa would be waiting for me to show up. No doubt, they would be anxious to go and perhaps find out once and for all what the hell, or who the hell had been screwing with us. But something, was wrong. Really, one of those feelings. Like you're afraid to turn around and find something behind you. And perhaps it's better-left unknown. Are we making a mistake?

I shook my head. Quickly, I slid an extra handgun into the back waistband of my slacks. Not exactly inconspicuous, but the party is known for its er. . . dark environment. No one would notice. Besides, I still couldn't shake the feeling. God. I untucked my shirt, hiding the gun underneath it.

Just in case.

***

            I slid through the empty halls. Empty because everyone was at the party already. I don't think *any*one would miss it and stay at their dorm. Everyone who's not going had long before left. For example, the 'less-brave' teachers. Heh. If it weren't for the serious situation we were in, I would seriously enjoy this thing.

            Cautiously, I glanced around the hall, just incase some unfortunate soul happens to be lingering around and gets impaled by my lil blade. Accidentally, of course. Satisfied, I reached Quatre's room, where, we had planned to meet and plan out next move before finding Heero and getting his information.

            The first thing that ran through my mind when I pushed open the door was that I shouldn't be able to push open the door. I mean, it should be locked. Leaving the door unlocked when there are professional assassins wandering around just isn't a very cool thing to do.

            The next thing that hit me was pure and formidable anger. Some one was going to pay. The bed, Quatre's bed to be more specific, was stained with blood. I mean it could have been from his wound, but not this much. You can't lose this much blood and still live. All the furniture was lying on the floor. Splinters of blood-covered wood laid all over the floor. The window shattered.

            Then I saw it. Pinned on the wall with a dagger that I recognized as Wufei's was three little bells. I remembered them. The tiny crystal ornaments that I had given each of the guys last Christmas. It was a promise to each other that we would meet again. And that someday after the war was over, we'd be together without anything constantly looming over our shoulders. No more fear.

            A second glance at the wall display showed me that the dagger was used to carve a message on the wall, before meeting it final embedment.

            'and soon there shall be none.'

            The carving was slathered with a thick red substance that only could be blood, I could see strands of black, and blond and brow hair caked in the drying blotches.

            God

            It wasn't a prayer. No, far from it. I knew then that I wasn't going to make it out alive. And even if I did, things will never be the same again. It was a vow. A vow that even if I won't live another day, neither will *they*. Not whoever did this. No.

            I yanked the knife from the wall, gathering the red-crusted bells into my hand. Clasping it over my heart, as if my doing so, I could make things better again, I walked out the door. Heero. He was next. I know it. Someone was whispering it into my ear. I had to find him first.

***

            This must be the first time in my sorry-excuse-for-a-life that I'm actually spending my evening at a party, rather than blowing up the nearest blowupable place. Is that a word? Well, with a life that revolves around guns and explosives, we come up with our own set of vocabulary. Yeah.

            I slid through the thick crowd and followed along the edge of the dance floor. Well. Come to think of it, if this really is an evening off, it aint much of one. For one thing, it's hard to set your mind on a night of fun  when you just found the rooms of your friends and comrades soaked in cherry red. Besides, as if that's not enough to ruin even *my* evening, Heero's missing too.

            Silently I sighed scanning through the room, trying to locate that baka. And let me tell ya, it's a *lot* easier said than done. The whole place was dark and the air was filled with a thick essence. Some strange soul had even gone through the trouble of draping all the windows of the former clubhouse the students rented for the party with thick black cloth. The only source of light was the flickering glow emitted from torches burning cheerfully around the room. Mmm. Is it just me, or does it give the impression and everything, not to mention every*body*, was burning? Welcome to hell.

            Actually, I have to admit; the over all affect is stunning. But that doesn't help much when you're trying to find someone. Which happened to be Heero. Which, might I add is an expert at the art of keeping-a-low-profile.

I fingered the bells that I had unconsciously still clutched in my hands. The dried blood had rubbed off, leaving my hands covered with a find red powder. I sighed... again. Only aloud this time, as the warm coppery scent fought past the cloying smell of the room, assaulting my nose.

But it was a sweet scent. Iie. It was bitter sweet. One that I know only too well. It's the taste of your life crashing down before you. The taste of friends and love ones dying before your eyes. Before *my* eyes. The coppery flow of sweetness that fills my scenes. I felt a slight prick in my eyes.

Heero. Where are you?

I don't know if I had whispered it aloud, or only in my mind. The music would have swallowed it up long before it even had the fighting chance to reach my ears. Oh god, Heero. They already got Quatre and the others. Please. Don't you die, too. If you die too, I won't have a reason to live anymore.

Screw the colonies, I thought, even as I admitted that it isn't true. I would simply live as I always lived before. The way Heero always have. For the mission, no room for anything as trivial as happiness.

I was still trapped in my own portable hell – hey its nice to have your own travel size world of misery to escape to  - when I suddenly felt an arm encircle my waist, pulling me back against some unfortunate baka. 'Unfortunate' because he's about to get his head knocked back. And 'baka', because only some extremely intelligence-deprived person would dare mess with death-in-a-bad-mood. And I am in a *very* bad mood.

"Hello pretty girl. Want to dance?"

I bit back a yelp as I felt someone nuzzling at my neck. Call the ambulance, someone is about to die. The body count is about to be increased by another. Actually skip the ambulance and just set up an autopsy. Though a decapitated body doesn't really need much analyzing to find the cause-of-death. Grrrrr.

"Pretty?!?!"

Wait.

"GIRL?!?!?!?"

No one calls shinigami a 'girl'. I doubt even Heero can get away with this one, and he aint Heero. I actually considered pulling out my gun, but settled for knife-handing him in the neck instead. Yuck. Go away.

"Huh?" The guy straightens out, rubbing his neck in pain. Hn. Good. Then he froze, his face still in the shadows with a torch flickering behind him. I think he was squinting.

"DUO?!?!?"

Blink. Blink. That voice sounded familiar. It was my turn to squint.

The shocked figure took a step back, the torchlight illuminated his face.

"KENJI?!?!?"

"Oh man, I'm really sorry. I just saw your hair. And it was dark. Eh, heh. Gomen Duo! And um . . . you won't tell anyone will you?"

I glared. "Is there something *wrong* with my hair?"

Kenji gulped. Time to go for the kill. I was about to transfer my words into a more physical, and memorable, form, like a punch in the face, when reality once again came crashing down to me like a 5-ton brick. Aimed right for my poor head, of course.

            I sighed. Down, Maxwell. Kenji was really a nice guy. A lot nicer than most other people in the school. I shook my head with a rueful grin.

            "It's alright. Dun worry about it"

            Kenji smiled with relief. He gestured around him in a not so discreet attempt to change the subject. "So, how do you like it so far? The party?"

            Ouch. That 5-ton brick must have gained some weight. I remembered why I was here again. "Hey, have you seen Heero?"

            Kenji frowned in thought. "mmm... actually, I think I did. Funny, though, cause I'm not really sure, if it was him. Er... am I making sense here?"

            I smiled. Yup, that's Heero alright.

            Just when I was starting to get a grip on life again, Kenji spoke.

            "So how's Quatre?"

            "What do you mean?" Oh, his leg. Ack, all this bricks on the head must be damaging my memory. Before I could confirm Quatre's condition, Kenji continued.

            "He hasn't been in school all week. Everyone is worried. What's his name, oh yea- Trowa- came Monday morning with a note saying that Quatre and some other guy, Wufei, were sick and won't make it to class."

            I froze for a moment, a cold sinking feeling in my stomach. Something clammy and sickening, clinging to my chest.

            "Hey, Duo, you ok? You look kinda pale."

            No, this wasn't happening. "But Quatre! Didn't he fall in gym or something? Hurt his leg?" No, this wasn't happening. This isn't happening. God. Please Kenji, tell me you're joking. Tell me I'm right.

            But the boy only looked confused? "Whatcha mean?"

            I couldn't see anymore. I felt like I did, that night when I first heard about Heero self-destructing. Before I found out he failed. It was that. Like a world of blankness set out just for you. Memories falling like snowflakes through a blank world. Memories that melt away before you can catch them.

/Quatre. Wufei. Trowa. They knew about the shooting. Even though they weren't there. They knew before the information was given out. Three gunmen. Blue eyed one shot in the leg. Black eyed in the hand. Quatre. Wufei. Not in school. Lied. DNA does not match. Shooting. Weren't there. Information. Three. Shot in leg. Quatre. Lied. Doesn't match. Shooting . . . Quatre . . . Wufei . . . Trowa . . . /

            I felt the ground tilt beneath me. Somewhere through the haziness I think I saw Kenji step forward to help me. Grayness.

***

            A shot rang out. My eyes focused again as I saw Kenji pitch forward. As he collapse on the ground. Dead. A small pool of blood gathered beneath his face, or where his face had probably once been. The gaping bullet entrance on the back of his head supported my guess. There wont be much left for the funeral home.

            Everything got darker and darker. Colder, even though I felt the heat from the torches burn into my skin. I could barely hear screams ringing through the room. Shots ringing. People running. Dodging. But not escaping. But the music swallowed it all.

            Suddenly, I felt something slam into my waist. Something burning hot that washed away the cold. I didn't bother dodging it. Maybe later, I'll scream at myself for my stupidity. For my weakness and senselessness. But maybe there won't be later.

            I sank into the ground, feeling my blood seeping through my clothes, warming the cold floor. Mmm . . . at least black won't stain much.

            Out of the corner of my mind, I acknowledged that someone was holding me, whispering my name over and over again. My eyes snapped open. Then closed again. Kinda sad that the dim lighting can actually hurt my eyes.

            "Heero . . .?"

I cringed at the pathetic sound of my voice. I felt something warm drop onto my cheeks, trailing down to my lips. Salty, like tears. Was Heero crying?

            "Duo? Don't give up."

            "Heero don't cry. Boys don't cry, remember?" I open my eyelids, just a crack. I smiled. The rest of the world seemed to fade. If I didn't know him so well, I'd say that he was afraid. But Heero is never afraid.

            The world came back. I struggled to pull myself up into a sitting position, gingerly touching the hole- no other way to describe it- in my side. But that doesn't really matter. I don't even *want* to live past this. So then what *does* matter?

            "Heero, Quatre. And the others- "

            I felt two fingers rest against my lips. "I guessed. After I left, it suddenly occurred to me to try it out on the private information collected by Dr J that first time we went to space. It ran positive on Quatre." His voice was hushed. A bit sad. I understood. It hurt. To find out that the very people, the *only* people you would trust your life with betrayed you.

            "Duo, we have to fight back." No. No, I can't. I thought about Quatre. When I last saw him. The tears running down his face when he told me how much he cared about me. No. I can't kill them. Maybe I was right. This was something I wouldn't want to find out.

            Heero must have seen the look on my face. He shook his head. "Duo. I- " suddenly he stopped. While we were chatting, the shootings had stopped. Peeking around the fallen table where we had retreated to, I saw that the floor was littered with fallen bodies. The fallen draping and shattered windows suggested that at least *some* people had escaped.

            But that wasn't what caught my eyes. Nor Heero's. Standing in the middle of the room were the three gunmen – that's it, the three gunmen. Not your friends, your companions. Just three strangers. Maybe its best that they kept they're masks on.

            Stalking towards the stereo, one of them shot it twice. The loud music that had ringed through the room had blocked out our conversation came to a halt, leaving us a deafening silence.

            "Duo. Heero."

            The voice. It was Quatre's I'm sure. The guy was limping a bit. It must be him. But it didn't sound like him. The voice was cold. Like Heero's. But even worse. It was completely devoid of emotion. Like an empty tape. Playing over and over again. Playing nothing. White noise.

            I couldn't take it anymore. With a scowl I leapt out.

            "Why are you doing this? Quatre?! This isn't you!"

            One of the others stepped forward, but Quatre help up a hand, gesturing for silence. In a light voice dripping with the odd combination of honey covered clandestine, he continued.

            "But Duo, I'm not Quatre."

            I hated the way he used Quatre's voice.

            "Cut this crap. You have violated our mission. Unless you come up with a good explanation, you will be executed." I heard Heero's cold voice. Yeah. The battle of the impassive. Right.

            A light laugh came from him as he ripped off his mask. Silvery blond hair flashing in the firelight. Innocent blue eyes. Wufei and Trowa followed him. I could feel my heart torn from me. The three stood there. Wufei and Trowa. Faces till shadowed. But blonde stood right in the open.

            "Heero, step out of the way. You're not involved."

            Heero just glared, leveling his gun. Quatre just laughed again. That mirthless tinkle of bells. Before I could draw my own weapon, a shot- or rather two- rang through the cave like room. The echoing sound smothered by the fall of a body.

            I turned around in horror just in time to see the gun drop from Heero's hands. Dropping by his side, I grasped his shoulders. It wasn't suppose to happen this way. The blood from his chest wound soaked un to my hands.

            "I told him to stay out of the way."

            I glared. My vision blinded by hatred. It wasn't until I felt my body make contact with a slighter smaller one, did I realize that I had threw my self at the Quatre.

            "WHY?!"

            I didn't wait for an answer. Drawing the knife from my sleeves, I embedded it into the other's lower neck, dragging down. As it did so, the bells, which were entangled in my fingers, ripped loose. Falling onto the floor they broke into thousands of tiny shards. Red shards. I felt all my hopes shatter with it. Then, as I looked down onto my bloody hands, I realized they already have. Long ago.

I saw Quatre mouth my name. He had no vocal cord left to speak with. For a moment, I think I saw light return to those sky blue eyes.

            /Duo, promise you'll never get dragged down. . . you're a great friend./

            Then they closed. The paling lips moved one last time.

            /Gomen . . . /

            ". . . Duo."

            I felt the tip of a cold gun press against my forehead. I didn't need to look up to see that it was Trowa. I recognized the voice. Or maybe I just didn't *want* to look up. To meet the intense green eyes and acknowledge another loss. I just wanted to curl up somewhere and pretend that this wasn't happening.

            But my body thought otherwise. Once again, it took control of it self. Backing away a few inches, I stepped aside, avoiding the bullet that whizzed pass me. Leaping forward, I withdrew the knife that was embedded in Quatre and slammed into Trowa. I leapt back, but this time not missing another bullet, care of Wufei.

            "ITAAII!"

            I slammed into the wall at the same time as Trowa collapsed onto the grounds a few feet away. The blood that already began to run, cushioning the fall with a wet plop.

            "WHY?!?! WHY?!?!"

            I sobbed as I reached for the gun tucked behind my back, aiming for the last one. Wufei.  For a moment, I saw again that look of reorganization in his eyes before they were permanently closed by the bullets. I pressed the trigger again and again, until all I heard was the cold metallic click of an empty magazine.

            "Duo. . . Duo. . ."

Someone ripped me away from the fallen body. The voice. It was that guy. From the parking lot. But it seemed too trivial. Why can't he just leave me alone now? After all, I am alone already. I have nothing left. I felt a tears and blood trickle down my face.

"I came to late. Duo. I'm sorry. They didn't mean it. Their minds. It wasn't really them."

The voice sounded urgent. To explain. To get a response. But I didn't care anymore. I shook my head wildly. Just leave me alone. Alone. Alone.

"Duo. Someday you'll understand. Duo . . . don't give up. . . not yet."

I pushed the person away. Go away. Go away. I don't want an explanation. I don't want to understand. It got cold. I struggled against the ice closing in on me. But it filled my mouth, my lungs. My soul.

***

I don't know how much time passed before I could hear anything again. It seemed like an eternity, or just a few seconds.

"Duo. . . don't give up. . ."

The voice was different this time. I glanced up. It was dark now. All the torches were out. I couldn't see the other three bodies anymore. All the others, the body of the students were draped with the black clothes. It seemed like some funeral from hell. Maybe that's were I am. Sigh. Another look around the room told me that the man was gone too.

Crawling towards the voice, I found myself beside Heero. He sat, leaning against the flowery red patter of the bloodstained wall. Stained with his blood. I wrapped my arms around him, trying to warm the alarmingly cold skin.

"No. Don't you die too."

He smiled slightly. I think. It was too dark to tell. Seemingly satisfied, he closed his eyes. I wanted to scream, to tell him to open his eyes, again. No. To wake me up and tell me that it was all a dream.

I bit down on my lips, tasting the hot coppery flood mix with tears. Somewhere in me, a little voice was crying. The voice was filled with pain and anguish that I could never express, no matter how much I felt it inside.

It got dark again. And this time, I didn't really mind.

 

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AN: haha, I'm evil XD I've decided that there will definitely be an epilogue... to tie things up and maybe even a suquel! Ooo!