Other Worlds
Chapter 7
After a lot of thought, I decided Duo would be a nice addition to the story. So I put him in this chapter. Please don't hurt me! *hides* I know some of you didn't want him in here, but there were a lot more that did. I think this chapter turned out pretty well and I hope you enjoy it. (although I've probably lost about half my readers now…) Oh and one more thing. Heero and Nikita aren't going to be in this chapter. This will mainly be Aldrich and Duo (not in the yaoi sense!). Aldrich has become one of my favorite characters and I thought he deserved a bigger part in at least one of my chapters. Don't worry though, I won't keep you totally in suspense. Chapter 8 will be all Nikita and Heero I promise! ^_^
Disclaimer: Characters from Gundam Wing are not mine. If they were, I'd be rich and not wasting my time writing fanfiction.
…. = denotes thought
Duo cursed Heero's name as he stalked through the darkening forest. Heero had been gone for a couple hours and the other pilots had started getting worried, so they had asked Duo to go out and find him. Actually, they had just shoved Duo out the door with a gun and told him to bring back Heero. Duo grumbled some more as he remembered his friends' earlier actions against him.
"Some friends they are." he grumbled sourly. "I swear, when I find Heero he is gonna get it." Duo jumped and drew his gun when he heard a sound come from behind him. He turned around and saw a rabbit hopping calmly away. He let out a shaky breath and nervously ran his fingers through his hair.
"Shit. It was just a fucking rabbit." he chuckled nervously while he put his weapon away. Forests always gave him the creeps. He preferred city streets to the great outdoors. The woods were completely dark now. The pale moonlight was the only illumination through the thick trees. Duo shivered, mostly from fear than cold. He forced himself to ignore the chills running up his spine and continue through the woods. Deeper into the forest, he started hearing a strange rumbling sound, like thunder, only there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Curiosity piqued, he walked towards the sound. He soon arrived at clearing with a small lake sitting at the center. The water was smooth and calm. A gentle breeze blew through the tall grass and crickets chirped their night song. There seemed to be almost nothing wrong with this quiet scene. However, it was that almost nothing that was causing the almost comical look of shock on Duo's upturned face.
"What the hell…?" asked Duo in a tiny voice as stared up at the strange black swirling clouds that hovered in the sky above the lake. Blue bolts of lightning flashed and crackled across the portal, striking the ground every so often. A bolt struck the ground near his feet, jolting him out of his current stupor. He stumbled backwards a few steps before falling flat on his ass.
"Whew, that was close." gasped Duo. Unfortunately for Duo however, the next bolt would be much closer.
Aldrich walked briskly down the road to Canderis, humming a cheerful tune. He had a strange feeling that his sister was in trouble, which was part of the reason why he was hurrying, but he wasn't too worried. He had raised Nikita well and he was very confident in his younger sibling's abilities to handle any situation. Besides, Esprit would warn him if Nikita's situation were dire.
"Hmm?" Aldrich looked down at the blue gem that hung around his neck. It was pulsing with a warm blue light. "Is something wrong Esprit?"
To the west. Strange presence. Shouldn't be here.
"Oh really? Is it hostile?" Aldrich's smile vanished and he furrowed his brows as he concentrated. He stretched his senses, searching for the strange presence his guardian had pointed out to him. He could feel something unusual, but it was very faint.
"Maybe I should go see what it is…" He walked off the path and headed west, letting his senses guide him.
Nikita?
"We'll meet up with her later Esprit. I'm sure my little detour won't set me behind that much." said Aldrich as he walked through the woods. "Besides, I'm sure she's fine."
Careful, Aldrich.
"I always am."
Duo slowly opened his eyes. Pain pounded in his head like a low drum. He moaned and slowly rolled himself onto his back. He rubbed at his violet eyes a little and stared blankly up at the graying sky.
"What the hell happened?" Duo rubbed his temples and tried to soothe his throbbing headache. It dulled down a little and that's when Duo noticed something strange. He sniffed at the air and grimaced as a rancid smell assaulted his nose. He looked over to his right where the smell was coming from and was met with the empty stare of a rotting corpse.
"Aaaahhhh!" Duo jumped up and backed away from the rotting body. He looked quickly around and saw that he was no longer by the lake. Instead he was in a large empty field. The dry yellow grass barely moved from the faint breeze that blew through. The field was also littered with a few more dead bodies.
"Where the hell am I?!" Duo heard a strange gurgling moan come from behind him. He spun around and drew his gun, looking around for any threat. The low, gurgling moan came again and this time Duo saw where it came from. He watched in shock and horror as the corpse he had been lying next to earlier slowly rose up and turned its empty eye sockets on him. It began taking slow, shuffling steps towards the braided pilot.
"Holy shit! It's a zombie!" Duo shot at the shuffling creature three times. The bullets landed in its rotted flesh with sick squishing sound, but it did not stop in its advance towards Duo.
"Damn, how do you stop these things?!" Duo racked his brain, trying to think of a way to stop the undead creature coming after him. Then he remembered playing a certain game where you had to escape from a house full of zombies and the only way to kill the creatures was to shoot them in the head. Duo decided to give it a shot, took careful aim and fired. He hit it square between the eyes, but the monster didn't even flinch.
So much for that…
Duo, becoming panicked and very limited in his options, decided to run for it. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, leaving the shuffling creature behind. He saw that the other dead bodies in the field were starting to rise as well and Duo started freaking out a little.
"This is not happening, this is not happening. There are no zombies coming after me. This all just some fucked up dream and I am going to wake up soon." Duo tried to assure himself. He suddenly felt something wrap around his ankle and send him sprawling into the ground. He gasped and wheezed as the breath was knocked from his lungs when he hit the ground hard. He slowly pushed himself to his hands and knees. He tried to move his leg, but found that he couldn't. He looked back to see what he had gotten caught on. He saw a bony hand sticking up from the ground, wrapped around his ankle.
Duo screamed and worked his way loose of the rotting appendage. He finished pushing himself up and bolted off. The gray sky was rapidly becoming black. It was getting hard to see. Duo felt something grab at his back and yanked him to a stop. He twisted around to fend off his attacker and came face-to-face with one of the ugliest things he had ever encountered in his lifetime. It looked like it was once human, but it was horribly disfigured. It's skin was gray and rotting. Its yellow eyes bulged from their sockets, giving it a crazy wide-eyed look. It had long, pointed yellow teeth and a long, thick tongue that slithered in and out of its drooling mouth. It raised its clawed hand and swiped at Duo. Duo twisted out of the way and elbowed the creature in the back, sending it sprawling to the ground. It was back on its feet quickly though, and it went for Duo again. Duo dodged its claws again and took off. The creature loped along after him, but it was too slow to keep up.
Duo didn't get too far before he ran into something, hard. Duo stumbled back a few steps, but quickly regained his balance. He heard a thump and a quiet grunt as whatever he ran into hit the ground. Duo looked down and saw a slightly effeminate looking man with shoulder length blond hair and pointed ears sprawled on the ground before him. The strange man picked himself up and began dusting off his white robes.
"Who are you?" Duo asked, hoping this weird looking person would be able to help him. The stranger looked up and smiled warmly.
"My name is Aldrich." he said as he finished brushing off his robes. "And you are?"
"Duo. Sorry for running into you." apologized Duo. "I was trying to get away from this weird zombie-thing that was chasing me. Can you tell me where I am?"
"This place doesn't really have a name, but it's not someplace you should be wandering around in at night." Aldrich looked over Duo's shoulder and his eyes narrowed. "Look out!"
Duo didn't have time to move fast enough before he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his left shoulder and sharp little pinpricks in his arms as the creature that had been chasing him sank its teeth and claws into his flesh. Duo howled in pain and tried desperately to twist out of the creature's grip, but it was inhumanely strong.
"Aaahh! Get it off me, get it off me!" he cried while he struggled against the creature's vice-like grip. Tears of pain began to leak from his eyes as the creature gnawed on his shoulder, working its way to the bone and the clawed hands dug deeper into his tender flesh.
"Oh God, somebody help me…" Duo whimpered. He could feel blood trickling down his arms in warm rivulets. His struggles grew weaker as he lost more blood. Then suddenly the creature was ripped violently from Duo's shoulder by a ball of white energy. Duo cried out as a chunk of his flesh was torn from him. He fell forward, barely conscious and intense pain radiated throughout his body. He lifted his head a little to see where the blast had come from and saw Aldrich glowing with a faint white light. He spoke a few strange words and the light around him grew brighter and his eyes began to glow as well. He placed his palms together and another ball of white energy began to form in his hands. The creature got slowly back to its feet and Aldrich blasted it again. The monster let out a piercing shriek as it was disintegrated into dust.
The white light from Aldrich faded and his eyes returned to their normal color. He bent down to examine Duo's shoulder. It was bleeding profusely and the bone was exposed. The gleaming white stood out against the dark red; it even had a few teeth marks. Aldrich knew he would have to tend to Duo's wound soon, but they needed to get somewhere safer. It was rare to encounter one ghoul without a few more being around. He picked Duo up and set him on his feet. The boy whimpered and collapsed against the taller man. He was too weak to stand on his own.
"Come on now, you need to stay awake Duo. I need to be sure you're still alive." said Aldrich while he dragged the braided pilot to the forest edge. "I don't want to drag you halfway through the forest just to find out that you've died and I've been dragging a corpse." Duo murmured something, his head drooping towards his chest.
"You sure picked a great place to wander around in at night, you know." said Aldrich sarcastically, hoping for an answer from Duo. The boy murmured something incoherent, assuring Aldrich that Duo was still breathing.
It was not long before they stopped and Duo could hear the sound of running water. Aldrich laid him gently down on the soft grass and Duo sighed with relief when they had stopped moving. He struggled to open his eyes and focus, to see where they were. Aldrich dug through his satchel and cursed when he didn't find what he was searching for.
Damn. I forgot that Nikki had the bandages. With a defeated sigh, Aldrich plucked at the seam on the long sleeve of his robe. He broke the thread with his teeth and ripped the sleeve from his robe. Aldrich frowned. He was going to have to get a new robe and they were so expensive. He had really liked this robe too. He heard Duo moan and he focused back on the task at hand. He dipped the cloth in the freshwater stream and made sure it was soaked before returning back to Duo.
"I'm going to have to remove your shirt so I can clean your wounds." Aldrich told the barely conscious boy. Duo murmured again and nodded his head. Duo felt Aldrich quickly unbutton his shirt and push back the fabric. He shivered as the cold air hit his damp skin. Then he felt something cold and wet press against his shoulder. Duo yelped as the pain in his shoulder intensified. He tried to squirm away, but Aldrich held him still.
"Shh, relax. I can't properly clean your wound if you keep squirming." Aldrich scolded him. Duo settled down and whimpered every now and then when pangs of pain ran through his trembling body. Aldrich quickly and gently bathed his shoulder and the scratches in his arms. Aldrich was pleased to see that the claw marks in Duo's arms weren't as deep as he had previously thought.
"There, almost done." Aldrich put down the wet fabric and dug around in his satchel again, this time producing a small vial of red liquid. He opened it and poured half of the liquid on Duo's shoulder. Duo felt a pleasant tingling warmth spread through his shoulder and down his arm. The wound closed halfway so the bone was no longer exposed, but there was still a big gash left behind. Aldrich debated on pouring some of the liquid of Duo's claw wounds, but decided they would be fine to heal on their own. Instead he poured the rest of the liquid down Duo's throat. Duo coughed as the bitter liquid made its way down his throat. Duo felt the tingling warmth spread through his entire body and the pain lessened. He heard the sound of more ripping cloth as Aldrich tore off his other sleeve and ripped it into strips. Duo squeaked in pain as Aldrich bandaged the wound on his shoulder tightly.
"Sorry." said Aldrich. He bandaged the wounds on Duo's arms as well, being careful not to hurt the braided boy again.
"Thanks…" Duo murmured before sleep finally claimed him.
"You're welcome." Aldrich smiled and pulled out a blanket from his satchel and laid it over the sleeping Duo.
He almost looks like a brunette version of Nikki… He mused, remembering when his little sister had had a run in with some bears when she was younger. She had been playing with the bear's cubs, despite all of Aldrich's warnings. The bear had torn her leg up pretty badly and he had had to save her and bandage her up like Duo. Aldrich had been so scared that day, he thought he was going to lose all that was left of his family. She still had the scar on her leg, a constant reminder to her of her carelessness. Nikita was more careful after that and started taking her older brother's advice more seriously.
Aldrich propped himself against a tree, crossing his lean muscled arms across his chest and prepared himself to stay up the night and watch for danger.
"I hope you're being careful now, Nikki."
Tada! What did you think? Please review and let me know. Duo has entered the story, was nearly killed, and the purpose of Aldrich's gem was revealed. Chapter 8 will be Heero and Nikita's escape. What will happen? The more reviews I get, the sooner I post 8 so if you read please review or you can e-mail me at