Desert Rose
By AlantisB


Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam wing in any way. The plot is mine!

A/N: Duo has always called himself the God of Death. And in many fanfictions, authors either picture him to be a demon/god/etc of something evil or dark relating to the god of death. Well, picture this my fellow fanfic readers...what if he wasn't the God of Death? What if he was a differen't God instead?

Now don't get me wrong, I love stories where Duo is the God of death, they are the best! Which is why most of my Duo-centered fics have him as Death in one way or another ^.^ I always go out of my way to look for more stories like that. But ya know, they are becoming more and more cliched like vampire stories. It's hard to be original in terms of Death and Duo. But in my Algebra class (while thinking of new ideas for fanfics when I should have been learning about math), this idea came to mind. Keep in mind this is a teaser and also a rough draft. But I'll try and capture your attention! Enjoy the story!


"..talking.."
'..thinking.."
"Godly Language"
** ** Scene change




** **


The room was filled with worldly riches. Sunlight filtered into the large room from small openings on the side of the dome about the peoples' heads. The walls shined and could be seen and testified that they were made of gold and jewels. Carvings of all kinds of gods and goddesses from the far past days of the Titans and the beginnings of Kami-sama's creation to the present of new gods of Egypt, Greece, and to the Norse men. It described in many languages of the ancient world of the battles of mortals, gods, and demons. Mystical beasts such as the fire bird called phoenix and the fire breathing beast called dragon and other such creations lined the walls of gold in statues painted and sculpted as life like as the real thing.

In the center of the Great Hall, one large throne stood above all statues in height. This was the seat of Kami-sama, the judge of the Justice. Kami-sama, the god above all gods was the creator of everything in the universe. He knew not how his existence came around, he only remembered of when he was in the void and sat there lonely until he created other less powerful beings he dubbed gods and goddesses.

One could say that Kami-sama was a very handsome god, he had long dark hair and beautiful ocean blue eyes that stared into your soul. He is both Asian, Norman, and Egyptian, including any other such human beings in existence. He had no distinct facial features. His heart was pure gold and he forgave things far to easily then others would. The god was one who deserved the title of supreme god well enough and knew many things that would cause the human mind to shut down in overload.

Kami-sama though, knew not how he could judge the goddess that stood in front of him today. He knew that the beautiful temptress was sadistic and loved the thrill of adrenaline that battle would give her. But she also had a heart of gold and lived life to the fullest extent.

Bastet, he supposed, was the ultimate creation of darkness and light. She was both goddess and demonic but choose to be goddess more often then not. The Egyptian goddess was a beautiful site to behold. Dressed in the Arabic Harlem look with black sheer pants, a black tight belly button shirt, and gold bracelets and jewels framed her body nicely. Kami-sama thought with some amusement that Bastet was not afraid to show off her unnatural beauty to all that beheld her. It was no wonder the goddess was both evil and good.

The Egyptians, the people she had created, gave culture to, and mothered loved her as much as one loved their parents. But as time grew on, the Egyptians strayed away like kittens from the mother cat; Bastet goddess of cats, mothers, and children when they became more advanced as a society. Her temples were no longer lavished in food, gold and jewels as it once had been. True, they still worshiped her in some form since the empire once known as Egypt was the City of the Dead, and cats being the guardians of the dead therefore were worshipped in the eyes of the people.

But the cat goddess had gotten jealous. Her children no longer came to her for help but to Amon-Ra. As time grew on, she began to plot a way to bring her children to worship her again. Kami-sama sighed as he looked down at the Egyptian goddess, and thought of why she here before him today. She had done the unthinkable. The ultimate sin.

She killed them.

Oh, she didn't kill them all for surely none could worship her then. But she went down to Earth, to the mortal realm, and changed her shape and created people of the water. She ordered the new people to attack Egypt and attack they did. They utterly destroyed most of the city and killed many Egyptians in the process. Then she headed to the kingdoms that were rising to power; diguised again, and told them of the city of Egypt and that it could fall to their power. The kingdoms jumped up to the chance of destroying Egypt and taking it as their own. The mighty city of the dead was captured.

Her children were gone and never to return to the power they had once possessed.

Bastet glanced around at the gods who were holding her in place. It had taken them at least three years for the gods to capture her when she ran away. But here she was now, in front of her father feeling guilty and shamed for the father of all had to punish her. She was one of the first goddesses and now, she may be eliminated for her foolish actions. Tears fell silently from her violet eyes. 'I'm sorry,' she thought. 'I wanted my children to love me again. I was angry, don't put me in the void father. Please!'

Kami-sama looked with sad eyes at the goddess. In his presence, he could hear the thoughts of his children and had heard his child's plea. He knew Bastet had a nasty temper like a lioness and was just as stubborn. But he couldn't let her go without a hard punishment. The other children would become jealous of her getting away without any harm. An idea came to his mind, 'Perhaps all is not lost after all.'

"BASTET, GODDESS OF CATS, CHILDREN, AND MOTHERS," began Kami-sama as he started his judgement. Bastet looked up at Kami-sama with tears and listened. "AS THE SUPREME JUSTICE OF THIS GREAT HALL, I ASK YOU HOW DO YOU PLEAD TO THE CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST YOU?"

Bastet looked down at her chained hands then up at Kami-sama, her courage shined out for all to see and the tears in her eyes were gone, the only evidence of any tears were the tracks it left upon her cheeks. "Guilty of all charges, Father."

The other gods and goddesses in the room gasped and began whispering to one another in wonder. The goddess kept her back straight and ignored all the gossip going on around her. If she was to be punished; let her head be held high and face it without fear. Her soul was iced over, as was her heart. She was ready for the void.

"THEN MY CHILD, I HAVE COME TO A CONCLUSION AS TO WHAT YOUR PUNISHMENT SHALL BE. YOU, BASTET GODDESS OF CATS, CHILDREN, AND MOTHERS; I HEREBY STRIP YOU OF YOUR HEAVENLY AND DEMONIC POWERS."

Bastet's eyes widened. 'Stripped of my powers? But, I'll become-' she didn't get to finish that thought as Kami-sama spoke again.

"YOU ARE SENTENCED TO LIVE A LIFE OF MORTALITY IN THE MORTAL REALM TO BE REBORN AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL I SEE FIT THAT YOU HAVE BEEN PUNISHED ENOUGH." Kami-sama paused as it pained him to continue the sentence.

He spoke again, "YOU WILL HAVE NO FAMILY AND WILL BE ORPHANED IN EACH AND EVERY LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED TO PUNISH YOU FOR BEING A RASH MOTHER TO YOUR CHILDREN. YOU WILL NEVER IN YOUR MORTAL LIVES FIND LOVE AND ALL THOSE WHO YOU LOVE WILL BE KILLED."

Bastet felt tears coming to her eyes, this was far worse a punishment then the void. For all those she would fall in love with will be taken, and she shall never see them again.

"BUT," Kami-sama's voice caught her attention and she focused on his voice again. "I WILL ALLOW YOU THAT EVERY TIME YOU ARE REBORN YOU SHALL NOT REMEMBER YOUR PAST LIVES OR YOUR LIFE AS A GODDESS. I HAVE SPOKEN."

Kami-sama, father of all, raised his hand palm up to the ceiling and the markings on his face glowed. Similar markings appeared on Bastet's face and she fell to her knees in pain as her markings glowed. She cried out in pain; the other gods and goddesses watched as a beam of light from the center of the dome glowed with white light and engulfed the cat goddess. Her painful cries echoed in the halls as her powers were stripped and her markings faded.

A wisp of a being was where the strong cat goddess once was and Kami-sama got up off his throne and gathered the spirit into his palms and walked over to one of the statues. It was different then the other stone sculptures for it was a statue of a human being. The Father smiled sadly as he gave the spirit to the statue which glowed with white light when the Father touched it and it sent the once goddess's spirit to the mortal realm.


** **


Duo bolted upright in his bed gasping and breathing heavy. He looked around the room wildly and noticed it was still dark out and the other pilots were all sleeping. 'That was one hell of a nightmare,' he thought. But it was strange really, he had been having it every since the Maxwell Church burned down. But it stopped two years ago when he became a gundam pilot. He had thought the nightmare had finally went away.

It wouldn't be the first thing he was wrong about.

He sighed as he got up from his bed and padded over into the bathroom and flipped on the light. It was five in the morning already, he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep again anyway. He grabbed the end of his braid and untied the end before he began to unweave it. He glanced up at the mirror and his haunted violet eyes stared back at him. He looked away quickly.

A half an hour later he emerged from the bathroom dressed in a black bathrobe and went over to the dresser where he began the long duty of brushing his hair. Duo quickly braided it and tied off the end before dressing in his preacher clothes. He grinned as he slipped on the familiar appearance as the God of Death.

He walked down stairs to the kitchen to get his morning fix of coffee and pancakes. Quatre was already there, making pancakes and occasionally lifting his teacup from the side of the oven for a sip of his green tea. Duo blinked and walked over to the young blonde.

"Hey Quatre, whatcha doin making breakfast huh? Don't ya got servants do it?"

Quatre almost dropped his cup in shock but recovered quickly. "Duo you shouldn't surprise people so early in the morning," chided the young Arabian boy. Then the blonde continued to make the pancakes. "I got up early to make sure I caught you and the others during breakfast because I have an announcement for you all."

Duo nodded and left the boy alone so that he could go over to the coffee machine and get his caffeine for the morning up. Then, he'll feel like a human being and not a walking mummy! 'Speaking of mummies, didn't I have a report on Egypt or somethin to do last night for homework?' He thought for a moment while watching the coffee willing it silently to go faster so he could gulp it down. 'Eh, I'll do it in homeroom! I don't see why we need to learn about people dead for thousands of years. It's boring! Well, except for the whole City of the Dead thing, that's cool.' He grinned and poured himself a cup of coffee and walked over to the table and sat down.

Slowly as the clock ticked to seven in the morning, Duo and Quatre talked over small things and ate breakfast. One by one the other pilots came down until Heero was the last one. He silently poured himself a cup of tea and sat down across from Duo. Quatre cleared his throat and all the pilots turned their attention to him. He smiled cheerfully and set his teacup down.

"I have an announcement for you all," began the Arabian. "It has been such a long time since any of us have had a real vacation. Oz has been slowing down in activities and I think this would be the perfect time for a trip!"

Heero glanced up from his tea and stared at Quatre. "We have no time for vacations. We are in war."

Duo's face lightened up and he looked at Heero with a puppy-dog face. "Aww, but come on Heero! One little trip won't destroy the world! We need a break, cause I'll crack if we stay around and do nothing all day! Pleeeease?"

"Maxwell don't be a baka! We don't have time!" The Chinese Asian glared at Duo. "Stop with this foolishness." Duo stuck out his tongue at Wufei and grinned cheerfully.

"But Wu-maaaan..!"

"Don't call me that! My name is WuFEI!"

"Okay Wu-man."

Quatre saw the impending fight and tried to break it up before Wufei decided he would like a nice braid for a trophy over his bed. He looked at Wufei with kind eyes. "Wufei we need a break, this short trip won't cause any harm."

Wufei frowned and folded his arms but didn't comment. Trowa looked up from his coffee and stared at the young blonde. His quiet voice echoed loudly through out the whole room when he spoke. "Where is this vacation going to be?"

Quatre smiled brightly and Duo leaned over and raised his eyebrow at him. "Yeah, Q-man. Where?"

He smiled brightly and his eyes shined with happiness. "Egypt."


** **


Well? Did you like it? Tell me okay? Perhaps I'll begin it soon then expected if I get a lot of reviews. It'll be good, trust me! Remember, REVIEW!!
-AlantisB