Ko: I owe Embyr a decent ending...
Heero: You owe ME a decent ending! I'm the one you're abusing!
Ko: *looks at him* I owe EMBYR a decent ending because she hates this story.
Wing: I hate it.. Poor Heero...
Phobos: Poor Embyr... She was shaking after reading this....

Duo watched Heero silently for a few minutes. Somehow, the boy had fallen asleep once more, though he never did explain to him why he had been crying. That didn't matter much, though.

Duo curled up slightly, and continued to watch Heero sleep. He looked so... peaceful...

He never noticed when sleep took him.

------------------------

Duo awoke to a large room. The walls were all covered with full length mirrors. Looking around, his first thought was that he was alone, but on second thought, he noticed a girl staring at him.

The girl had the deepest green eyes he had ever seen. The more he looked into them, the more he was convinced they were those of a dragon's. The girl was dressed in a simple Japanese style dark blue dress with gold trim, but what really caught his attention about it was the dragon on it. It was a forest green in color and it wrapped around the slim form of the girl.

"Did your mother ever tell you it was rude to stare?" she asked, cocking her head slightly. Once more, he was reminded of a dragon. She shrugged, as if dismissing his rudeness for staring. "Anyway, you must be Duo Maxwell."

Duo nodded, though in the back of his mind, it screamed, "How does she know my name?!"

As if he had spoken aloud, she replied, "I've heard much of you from Starwing."

"Starwing?" Duo was confused now.

She smiled. "His human name would be Heero Yuy. A friend of yours, I believe?" The green eyes seemed to bore into his.

He nodded. "Yeah. What about him?"

"I miss him." She said simply. The deep emerald eyes seemed to sadden and Duo could have sworn she was heartbroken. She shook her head again, the look disappearing. "I just wanted to know if he was ok. I haven't been able to talk to him for so long..."

"He's... he's fine." Duo replied, knowing he was lying.

The girl stared at him. "Do you usually lie when you don't know the answers, Duo?" She asked flatly.

Duo blinked at her. "How... how did you know I didn't know about that?" He stammered.

"Simple." The girl replied. "You stammered." She smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not going to bite."

Duo gulped. "You.. you're not? But....."

She gave him a look. "Do I honestly look so frightening to you that I'm going to eat you up like a treat?" At Duo's laugh, her beautiful smile showed again. "I'm sorry that you thought I would." She winked at him. "I like you. Starwing was right to choose you for his closest friend."

"Fr-friend?" Duo blinked, feeling confused. "But what about....?"

"That green haired girl that seems about two steps behind him, sometimes complaining, sometimes not? The girl that seems to frown at everything and anything? The girl you thought was only a spoiled little rich girl?" She paced around him as she spoke. At Duo's shocked look, she grinned. "Yes, I can read your mind, but no, Firelight is not his closest human friend. She's a cyber angel."

Duo blinked again. "And that means....?"

She waved a hand. "A cyber angel is an angel that has been.... altered.... in some way, shape, or form. Firelight's alteration is in her wings. At first glance, they're seemingly like mine." As she spoke, a pair of large feathery white wings spread out behind her. One came up to hide her gentle face. She brushed the wing away and the wings disappeared. "But her's are different in the fact that under the white feathers lie metal bones." She frowned as she spoke.

"What's wrong?" Duo asked curiously.

"Those wings are somewhat of a curse among 'normal' angels." She accented the word 'angel' with quotation marks made from her fingers. "Actually, most angels don't really care that she has them. Firelight, or Phobos, as is her human name, can be very friendly." She paused a moment in thought. "When she wants to be." She added as an afterthought.

"When she wants to be?" Duo almost laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like her. She's never nice unless it's about Heero, or Starwing, or whatever you want to call him."

The girl smiled softly. "I've known him as Starwing for a long time now. But if you want, I can call him Heero now."

Duo shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me." He studied the girl in front of him. The green eyes stared back, once more reminding him of a dragon. "This might sound very rude on my part, but.... has anyone ever told you you have the habits of a dragon?"

The girl was silent for a long time and Duo thought he had said something to really offend her. "Actually, Heero used to comment on that for as long as I've known him." She told him, smiling once more. "He used to say that if he didn't know better, I was a dragon posing as an angel." She continued, her voice almost laughing in merriment.

Duo had to smile back. "He's right. You remind me more of a dragon than an angel."

"Thanks." The girl grinned. She blinked, then held out her hand. "I totally forgot. My name is Fireblaze, but if you'd prefer to do so, you can call me Embyr."

Duo smiled back, shaking her hand. "Pleasure." He stared at her for a moment before speaking again. "Can I ask you a question?"

Embyr cocked her head to one side. "Of course. Anything."

"Were you and Heero ever.....?" Duo trailed off, wondering how to put his question delicately.

"Together?" Embyr's soft voice spoke through his thoughts.

Duo nodded. "Yeah. When you said you missed him, you had sounded heartbroken."

"I was." Embyr blinked, then sighed. "I do miss him. I didn't want him to go to Earth on some silly mission. If he hadn't gone on that mission, he'd still be in heaven and he wouldn't be hurt right now. He'd be happy." Duo could almost hear a 'with me.' in her voice.

"With someone as gorgeous as you, Embyr, why would Heero want anyone else?" Duo grinned. Embyr bit her lower lip, blushing. Absently, Duo noticed that she was even pretty blushing.

"T-thank you." Embyr smiled softly. Duo felt he had really cheered her up.

He looked around. "So, is this heaven?"

"Nah." Embyr shook her head. "Mortals aren't allowed to see heaven before their time is up. But we're close to heaven here." She gestured at the mirrors in the room. "We angels call this the thinking room. It's where angels go when we need to think. Something about our reflections, and those of mortals, helps us think and help us decide various things."

"I'd love being here." Duo said, turning a slow circle and watching entranced as his reflection did the same thing. "It'd be great."

"It would." Embyr's soft voice seemed to laugh at his childlike enthusiasim. "You know, Duo, you'd make a prefect angel."

Duo grinned at her. "Is there an opening for the Angel of Death?"

Embyr raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I think so. You'd get to work with Heero, if there is."

Duo's eyes widened. "Cool! I'd love that!"

Embyr laughed. "Then I'll go and see while you wake up." She leaned forward and gently kissed him on the cheek. "It was nice meeting you, Duo Maxwell." She told him in a soft voice.

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To be Continued.........

Well? How is this going for you people? See, I'm going to end up giving this to Embyr so she can happy with it. And yell at me.... And another thing, the songfic prior to this, Angels Would Fall, is just a flashback, of sorts. It has nothing to do with the main plot whatsoever. I just.... wrote it. *shrugs*