Authors note: Ok, this chapter should pick things up a little my friends, so whoever is reading this, I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimers: I do not own any copyrighted stuff that I use in this fic *glares at the suspicious looking men in black suits* Happy now?
Warnings: 1+2 will be happening later people, ok? I will try not to bash any of the other characters.
Archiving: E-mail me first and let me know.
I am the thousand winds that blow.
I am diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am gentle autumnal rain…
"Hey man, are you ok?" Wufei's worried tone snapped Heero out of his complete and utter shock. Swiftly he grabbed Wufei's arm, "You said no one sat in that seat right?"
"Yes." The Chinese boy replied, puzzled by the others complete change of demeanour in five seconds flat.
"So why is someone sitting there?"
"What?" Wufei's eyes flickered briefly to the desk before coming to rest on Heero's face again, "There's no one there."
He can't see him, Heero realised, he can't see the
boy sitting there, snapping a piece of gum and wearing a cross just like…his
eyes widened in astonishment, he's wearing a cross like the one I found in
the rubble.
Wufei had, by now, begun to wonder whether the new boy was all there, after all he was apparently seeing things the others weren't. Heero wasn't aware of any of the Chinese boy's thoughts, instead he continued to stare in shock at the boy.
Chestnut braid, violet eyes, pale skin, black clothing…really beautiful…wait a minute, where did that thought come from? Heero reigned in his independent thoughts before they could go any further, blushing slightly he looked down at the desk in front of him, avoiding the worried glances Wufei and Trowa were giving him.
*********
"So what do you think of Heero?" Asked Quatre through a mouthful of food as the three friends were sitting in the cafeteria.
"Weird." Trowa replied shortly, before going back to the suspicious grey meant on his plate.
Wufei hesitated before saying, "I don't know…he acted extremely weirdly when he first came into the classroom, he kept looking at Duo's desk, funny sideways glances, almost as though…" He was cut off however by a sharp elbow in his side.
"Heero!" Quatre smiled, "What a pleasure, do you want to sit down?"
"No Thankyou, I merely came to ask you a question, how did your friend Duo die? Wufei was going to tell me, but I interrupted him." He nodded politely at the now silent Chinese, who merely looked back, face expressionless.
"Well, Duo lived in an orphanage that was actually inside a church in the centre of a wood. He lived with about nine other kids, but they were all much younger than him, so he used to help the two mangers out immensely, looking after the young one's taking them out on trips. And in return, the children loved him, so did the two managers, sister Helen and Father Maxwell, that's where Duo got his last name from you know."
Heero smiled slightly inside, Quatre, after launching into the tale, was making this sound like a fairy story, the smile did not reach the surface of his face however, so it remained carefully impassive.
"Anyway, one day a couple of us had just left, (we'd had to leave early as the orphanage was having some visitors,) when we saw smoke rising from the church, by the time we got back there, the whole structure was ablaze, Duo was nowhere in sight. One of the children though, told us he had run back in to help the rest out, and eventually out they all came…all except for Duo."
Heero now found himself hoping this fairy tale would have a happy ending, even though he knew what was coming next.
"We waited and waited, eventually the fire squad got there, but it was too late, far too late, Maxwell church burnt to the ground, taking sister Helen, father Maxwell, Duo and one more orphan called Solo with it. The fire squad found Duo's body, it seems he had been trying to get Solo out when a beam fell on him." Quatre paused to wipe a couple of tears from his eyes, "Duo was so brave, he sacrificed his life to save the other children."
Heero could feel tears threatening to overwhelm his face, but once again he wouldn't let them show, couldn't let them show. It's almost like a fairy tale, it should have a happy ending…but this is real life, there's no such thing as a happy ending.
**********
Heero was silent for the rest of the day, almost as though he was in shock, it felt like he had known Duo, and felt the loss as keenly as his friends had. But he hadn't. Another factor that didn't help was the mysterious boy that kept appearing all over the place, sitting in the seat Duo was apparently meant to sit in, and what was most annoying was that nobody else could see the braided baka. [1]
Sighing Heero made a silent resolution, after school he would climb up the hill to the graveyard and visit this boy's grave, giving a tribute to an unsung hero.
So that's exactly what he did, at the end of French he swiftly made his way outside, and began the climb up the quiet green hill behind the village. By the time he reached the top he was panting slightly from the exercise, but not much.
He wandered around for a while, obviously this graveyard was quite old as some of the tombstones went as far back as the seventeen hundreds.
He eventually found Duo's, in a quiet corner under a willow tree. It was pure white with a marble angel carved on the top. On the stone itself Heero read the words.
1984-2001
To him death is
not the end, merely a setback.
Heero smiled to himself, this time allowing the emotions to show through on his face, from all he had heard about the boy that day, death being a setback sounded incredibly like him.
Bowing his head, he stood before the simple grave deep in thought. How long he stood there, he didn't know, but when he looked up again, he found he was not alone.
The braided boy from before was sitting there, on the headstone, feet swinging slightly and humming a tune.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, several things went "click" in Heero's mind, narrowing his eyes he looked at the boy. "You're him aren't you?"
The boy looked at him in some surprise, "You can actually see me?"
"Hai."
"Yep, I'm 'him' as you so delicately put it. Duo Maxwell at your service." The violet- eyed boy jumped off the gravestone and gave an ironic bow.
"Hm."
"Don't say much do you?"
"Only what is necessary."
"Uh huh, riiiight, so, um, you can see ghosts?"
"Yes."
The boy looked at the blue-eyed one in front of him, suddenly curious, "So you know what happened when I died?"
"Partly."
"Then I'll let you in on a little secret Heero Yuy…"
TBC
[1] If you have not worked out who the ghost is, and how Heero is able to see him by now, I laugh at your puny minds. *Evil grin. *
