Characters are not mine, appreciate comments though
//-thoughts
into the realm of frozen dreams
Part six:
Hell and it's Mistress
***
The darkness was what he hated most about hell. It had its own mind and the as it seeped into your heart, the despair would be enough to lose your soul. He felt Heero's hand tighten around his. He smiled he was incredibly brave.
"I haven't been here for so long." He heard Milliardo sigh.
The tunnel seemed to go one forever. Eternal darkness where you could feel nothing and cold voices breathed into your ears, chilling you from within.
Did he not choose the Prince over you? Why do you keep chasing him? If you take him do you think he would be taken?
A blinding light and they found themselves in hell's throne room.
The tall dais was perched on top of a long flight of stairs. The great hall was bare only the throne and the curtains falling from the domed ceiling. Winged angels hung from the ceiling, those that had fallen were the Demon Queen's most prized possession. His heart stopped as his eyes caught his sister's.
"Well, well, well if it isn't Crowned Prince Duo of the Angels." A voice sneered at them from above.
They strained their eyes to get a glimpse of the owner of the voice. Seated on her throne was the child Queen of the Demons. The twelve-foot chair made its small inhabitant even more miniscule.
"Hello Queen Hilde." Duo bowed. Milliardo climbed the steps and bowed to kiss the Queen's hand.
"Oh my, is this Milliardo?" she laughed. "He is beautiful, perhaps you should have never given him away Noin." Heero's eyes shifted from the young face of the queen to the one sitting beside her throne. Its head was laid on the Queen's lap she was running her fingers through its hair. Heero's eyes widened.
"What brings you to my realm?" she asked, her voice eternally a child's and unlike her people, she never shifted, she always stayed female. And she had only one companion, the eternally shifting Noin. It would never be satisfied with only one form or one partner. That was why it had not been proclaimed the Queen's King. Yet the Queen would not take another companion, only her elusive prize graced her chambers.
"I need to slay a dragon." Duo answered. The halls echoed with her laughter.
"So the elf has been taken from you." she sighed. "Duo, poor Duo don't you see that it is a waste of time to run after something? You would only tire yourself. Find another!"
Duo smiled at her, Noin looked up and caught Duo's eyes but its eyes moved to the boy beside him and it smiled. From where they were standing it was impossible to tell what gender Noin was now.
"Give me the liquid fire my Queen, please."
"You are pathetic first born, this elf you so treasure, are you sure he is worth everything that you have given up?"
Duo was silent. "You are a fool!"
"My Queen..." Milliardo tried to argue. Queen Hilde raised a hand to silence him.
"Stay with me first born and I will decide whether you will receive what you wish of me." she said waiving them away.
"Thank you my Queen." Duo bowed. Noin stood up and went to the two foreigners. Its hand brushing Heero's cheek.
"Your mother is with me child." It moved its face close to his cheek and passed its coarse tongue across it. A demon's kiss. "And you are beautiful."
Queen Hilde's expression grew cold once more. "So this is your son."
"Yes." Noin said showing its son with a father's pride. The queen eyed the boy with something akin to distaste.
"Half-breed." Was all she said. "Come now Noin, I am tired let us retire." She got up and Noin followed her like an obedient dog.
Heero followed his father with his eyes.
"Let us go to our quarters as well." Milliardo offered giving his hand, which Duo took and they walked into the darkened hallway.
***
Heero's hand stood poised on the door, what would he see on the other side?
He barely remembered his mother, he had only spent fifteen years in her arms before his village was massacred he was taken away by the Dragon Prince's horde. But he remembered her hands. Fragile and delicate and soft. He would watch her weaving for hours, mesmerized in the way her wrists moved and how her fingers let the shuttle fly.
He remembered how she buttoned his shirts and how she slapped him whenever he slandered his father.
And he remembered how she wiped his tears away.
Knock.
"Yes." He heard her voice. He pushed the heavy bronze doors and tentatively peered inside. Her back turned to him, she motioned for him to sit beside her. He shrugged.
She was sitting on an antique chair; the pattern carved on the wood Victorian, everything in hell was Victorian. She was facing a small table her eyes focused on a potted yellow tulip in the middle. Heero took the seat next to her.
"Mama..."
"Ssssh." She whispered putting her finger to her lips. The tulip began to open and singing filled the room, Heero looked around the room trying to find the ghostly singer when something caught his eye. Inside the tulip, gray and gossamer was the image of a woman, her feet planted in the tulip's heart and her face, melancholy matching her song.
Something ached at his heart seeing her beautiful face; her voice commanded him to listen to her wordless song and to memorize her almost forgotten face. Her closed eyes and her arms wrapped around her nakedness she sang until her song was finished and she turned to ash falling onto her flowered prison which wilted away leaving no remnant of the girl.
"And with that another soul is condemned." His mother finished. "Hell is beautiful and horrible at the same time." she smiled turning to him. "You are not Noin!" she gasped.
"It is me mama, Heero." He said looking at her.
"I had a son named Heero once. But they took him away from me." she said her voice wistful. "He had the most beautiful eyes. " she turned her attention elsewhere and Heero shook his head in his confusion.
"Mama it is me!"
"We had a song." She stood up and began to sing the lullaby she used to sing to her son.
Listen I have a secret.
A secret love no one knows.
He will come to me when the nightingales sing.
And we will leave for the land of the Ocean king!
He will bring me a rose, and a coffin and he will set me free.
For....
Heero looked at her painfully. "For jealous death hath taken him from me." he finished.
"That's not how it goes." She snapped at him.
"Mama, it is me!" he stressed taking her wrists in his arms.
"Let go of me!" she screamed. "You are the demon Queen and you will take Noin away from me!" she said in tears,
"I know how you tell my love lies and how you try to keep it from me!"
"Mama..."
"Keep away demon Queen or I will tear your heart out! " she said drawing into a corner. Heero stared at her horrified. He began to walk toward the door slowly and paused once more to look at her, she had began to dance to a music all her own. And Heero shook his head sadly.
***
Duo looked up at the sky, nothing was more beautiful than Hell's sky. There was no place with as many stars as there were here and it was eternally clear.
"Crowned Prince?" he heard Milliardo come toward him.
"Yes Milliardo." He said not taking his eyes from the sky.
"You should rest now."
"I remember one night not long ago when I looked up at the sky." He said lost in his own thoughts. "And no disrespect but your little carpet of stars cannot compare to it! Won't even come close." He smiled. That was the most beautiful sky he had ever seen no matter that the clouds obscured a third of the stars and the twin moons casting a ghastly light on everything it touched. It was still the most beautiful sky.
"I don't know why you still serve me. I set you free." He smirked looking at him. "Get it through your thick demon head!"
Little flecks of light began to pour from the heavens, coating them with tiny diamonds.
"What is this?" he asked catching some of the diamonds in his hands.
"It is the rain of tears my lord." Milliardo said looking up at the sky himself. Duo picked one up with his finger and brought it near his lips but it turned into water the moment it was touched and by the time it reached his lips it was nothing more than salty tears.
"I do not remember this." He laughed dancing in the falling crystals.
"It has always been here, it's just that the world did not use to shed so much." Duo stopped abruptly in his pirouette.
"If that is so than most of these are mine." He laughed sadly.
***
Wufei stared at the sheets in his hands his eyes filled with disgust and longing. And quickly lest someone should see him he brought it to his nostrils and inhaled deeply. He stopped suddenly aware of the other presence in the room.
"Pathetic isn't it?" he scoffed. The other did not answer him. "You must think I am pathetic."
"No. Just sad." His voice was low.
"He was mine before he ever became yours!" he spat at the other throwing the sheet back at the bed.
"I never asked him to be mine." Trowa said not moving from where the shadows concealed him.
"And still you took him!" Wufei's face burned with the humiliation. "How dare you mock me elf!"
"I do not mock you."
"By the look in your eyes you do."
"Forgive me then."
"He was mine."
"So he was."
"And now you have taken him from me."
"Why do you not take him back?" the mage shot him with a penetrating gaze full of hatred and disdain. "Oh I see. The curse of a mage and his lord." He couldn't help himself. He laughed.
"You dare mock me!"
"This time I do."
"I should kill you."
"Perhaps you should." Wufei stopped as if he was actually considering Trowa's challenge.
"No elf. I would hurt you where it would pain you the most." Trowa's heart stopped. "I will take him back from you." the mage smiled.
Trowa couldn't keep it in any longer and he burst out laughing. Wufei shouted curses at him but he did not hear them, he was too busy trying to keep his side from splitting. When he had regained his composure the mage was no where in sight and he wiped the tears from his eyes.
/These dragons are peculiar. Vainglorious and thick as a brick!/
He smiled. That was something Duo would have said.
***
Duo fidgeted in his seat and tugged at his collar.
/Stupid ruffles! Why can't they wear normal clothes?/
They were seated in the large dinning room waiting for their hosts to arrive. Seated beside him was Heero and Milliardo sat across him. He tugged at his collar once more.
"Duo stop that." Heero scolded him.
"I can't believe you can sit there and stand this Victorian ruffles and lace number!" he said behaving himself.
"Duo it has been sixteen years, you are the only one who hasn't gotten used to these clothes." Duo stopped has it been that long? Has he been here that long? Sixteen years and not even one step closer to retrieving the phoenix blood. He wondered if he should just kill one and drain the liquid fire from its veins. He shook his head then he would have to fight off Queen Hilde's horde as well as the dragon army.
Just then the Queen came into the room in all her ruffled glory escorted by Noin. They stood up to greet her and she sat on the head of the table. Duo watched Noin walk toward the end of the twenty-seat table and wondered why it always did that. Eat in solitude while they were only at the other end.
"So angel, what have you done today?" the queen asked. Duo sighed. This was getting tedious. Everyday for the last sixteen years they would meet at dinner and she would ask him this.
"I watched someone die your majesty." He said smiling.
"Oh? Well that is refreshing." She smiled. They began to eat and Duo kept looking at Noin. Deciding why it still bothered to join them. "Do you still fancy it Duo?" he jumped at her question and tried to focus his attention to his suddenly interesting plate.
"Noin, come here a moment dearest." She called. Like an obedient child it got up and went to her side. "Tell me Duo, does it look better as a woman or a man?"
Duo's eyes widened. "Noin was a female when we were lovers." He muttered quietly; he knew that Noin was a sore spot for the queen.
"So you like it better female?" Queen Hilde smiled. "Truthfully it is better to get a demon lover, you get variety with the way they change sexes." She winked and brought her goblet to her lips. "Not to mention they are better lovers than most races." She laughed.
"Hilde..." something in the demon's tone made them look toward it. "I am not a toy to be discussed anytime you wish." It said through clenched teeth. "I can only take so much and you my dear always go to far." It finished storming out of the room.
Queen Hilde got up and reached the demon before it had completely left the room. Some words were spoken between them, they argued a little. It seemed comical at first to see them; the queen trying to coax her lover like a parent would her child when it seemed that Hilde was the child between them. Suddenly the queen pushed Noin up against the wall and began to kiss it passionately her hands trying to find something to grasp. It wrapped its arms around her and the others were about to excuse themselves when Noin pushed her away.
"I will see you tomorrow Hilde." It muttered leaving the room. The queen watched it walk away for a moment before returning to her guests with her smile back in place and her cheeks flushed from embarrassment or exertion one couldn't tell.
"So you were saying about your day?" she said as she sat down once more.
***
He pushed open the door, letting his eyes adjust to the dimly lit room. He stopped in the doorway seeing her in its arms. He was about to turn around when a voice stopped him.
"Come here Heero." His father called.
"I passed by and saw the door open I thought something happened to her." He reasoned trying to avoid it.
"Oh I see, I must have left it open." It said still motioning for him to sit down. Heero sighed and closed the door settling into the chair. "You pass by her door every night don't you? You check on her. You must love her." Noin's back was leaning on the foot of the bed and his mother lay in its arms her head on his shoulder. Heero just looked at his parents.
"Heh, look at us complete at last." The demon smiled wistfully. "I knew she would come to this." It whispered smoothing her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ears. "Humans will not last long in the demon Queen's castle, they would eventually lose their minds."
"Then why did you let her?" Noin looked at him.
"I never could say no to her."
"But you did." He said his voice void of emotions.
"I thought it was for the best. But it seems I just hurt her." It said quietly.
"She is afraid the queen might harm her."
"Hilde would never dare harm her. Not if she wishes that I stay with her."
"Hn."
"I will take care of her. This time I promise I will." It said planting a kiss on her cheek. Heero got up and left them, closing the door on his way out.
***
When it opened the door to Duo's chambers it didn't expect to see Noin's child sitting on the bed. Its own surprised look mirroring the ones in the blue eyes staring back at it.
"I did not know you slept with him as well." He said looking away.
"Ah..." was all it said.
"How long?" Heero knew he had no right to be jealous but the pain still stabbed at him.
"Since we arrived here, when you are weren't there." It said sheepishly. "You, how long have you..."
"Since Langit." He said something akin to pride welling up in his chest at the knowledge that Duo found consolation in his arms first.
"I actually came to say goodbye. I can't take it anymore." Heero's eyebrows raised at the demon's confession. "You do know that we are only substitutes don't you?"
"Sometimes I pretend I am not." he said sadly.
"That is dangerous." It whispered awkwardly.
"To love him is dangerous." He answered.
"That is why I am pulling out before I fall even farther than where I am now." it said looking at the boy. "You should too."
"It is too late for me."
"Ah... I pity you then." It smiled moving towards the window. "And I pity myself as well."
"Demons fall only once you know and its forever." it said looking out of at the evening sky. "Just our luck we had to fall for him." a silence fell between them.
"I too used to pretend. And then I got tired of pretending."
"Milliardo..." it faced him. Heero looked at it sadly. The demon came towards the bed and tentatively kissed the other boy wrapping its arms around the smaller one's waist. He kissed back.
Both of them closed their eyes and pretended. Pretended one last time. Pretended that it was the angel they were making love to and that it would not end the moment the sunrise touched the curtains of his room.
***
She looked at her sleeping lover. Its arm draped around the human.
She smiled; she liked it better when it was female too.
/An eternity's worth of my love and you still return to her arms./
***
He looked up at her blank face, and kissed her cheek, she stirred a little and then returned to her empty stare. He wrapped his old clothes around her shoulders, tucking it into her chains so it wouldn't fall off.
/A gift my sister. A gift from the land we came from./
He fluttered to the floor and raised his eyes one last time. In his sixteen years in this place, he only had the courage to visit her today. His guilt washing over him.
"She was beautiful." She came into the room standing beside him.
"Yes she was." He looked away. "Can't sleep my Queen?"
"No." she sighed. "You know sometimes it is better to walk away Duo."
"My lady?"
"When you hold on to something, something you can't quite keep. You will cause him more grief than you could ever imagine. Some things are better left where they are." She looked up at her angels.
"And sometimes no matter how much you want to you can no longer let go."
"My Queen..."
"You are running out of titles my child." She smiled. "Promise me you will not hold on to him if he does not wish to be held by you."
"I promise." He said after sometime. She opened her hand and revealed a vial filled with golden liquid.
"Here is your poison. It is your poison make no mistake about that."
"Thank you." he said taking the vial from her hand.
"Give me a kiss Angel kind's first born for you will ask one last gift from me." She smiled and tilted his face to hers as they shared their first and final kiss.
***
He looked at her sleeping form. They would leave soon and he wanted to sat goodbye. If only she recognized him.
"I am leaving mama..." he whispered to her ear.
"Heero?" she asked in her sleep.
"Yes."
"Hmmm what are you doing here sweetheart?"
"I came to see you."
"Oh, you're father is here." He almost laughed. She only identified him in her sleep.
"I know." he smiled stroking her hair. "Mama how do you keep from falling in love?" he asked not really wanting to hear an answer but wanting to say it nonetheless.
"You can't. " she whispered falling back into sleep. He hummed their lullaby as she mouthed the words. "...for jealous death hath taken him from me..." she muttered.
"Heero we must leave now." Milliardo called from the outside.
"Sleep well mama." he smiled kissing her on the forehead.
***
The liquid fire burned his palms but Duo did not care. He would kill the Dragon Prince. They stepped out of the iron gates and were greeted by a world aged by twenty years.
"Duo, is that you?" he whipped around and saw Une come running toward him.
"We are in elfin country?" He asked suddenly stunned.
"The gate takes us where we need to be." Milliardo muttered.
"I needed to see you, thank heavens you are here." She said reaching them. "I carry a message from Trowa..."
***
Part of him wanted to run away from him and find Duo and die in his arms. Part of him couldn't leave. He had caused so much pain to so many around him and this was the only way he knew to make it right. For once he wouldn't be selfish. For once he would forget his own heart.
/If only it were that easy to forget./
"Trowa, come here luv." He called.
"Yes?"
"Look at this, if we put the army here...." He looked at the Prince's blue eyes. Could he forget?
***
"But I don't understand..." Wufei reasoned.
"Haha you are an idiot!" Prince Quatre laughed waving his hand in the air. "
"We were lovers."
"Yes we were but that was ages ago. Oh don't tell me you actually fell in love with me?" the confused look on the mage's face made him laugh even more. "You poor, poor boy. Don't you get it? I needed the strongest mage to protect me! And I would have done everything in my power to ensure that I will ascend to the throne. Even if I had to fuck a virgin, awkward, apprentice conjuror."
"But..."
"Oh Wufei you slay me!" he laughed one more time. "But now since you did bring it up, I have no more use for you, seeing as I have all the dragon mages at my beck and call!"
"I was..."
"You were the best, and I had the best now you have outgrown your usefulness." He winked at the confused boy.
"So you may leave now, I relieve you from your duty." Wufei just stared at him disbelief plastered all over his face.
"Oddly enough you were the only one that was a real threat to me." he laughed once more as Wufei turned his back to leave. "Oh and for what it is worth, you were a great lay."
"You turned him against me you dirty whore!" he spat at his face. Trowa calmly wiped his spittle from his eye and looked at him.
"If that is what you believe than you are a moron." He said walking past him.
"I will take him back." Trowa stopped and looked back at the seething dragon mage.
"May I remind you that you have a separation spell cast between you. Touch him now and both of you will die." He said walking on.
Wufei looked at his hands, the shame and disappointment coloring him a different shade of red. And as he looked up at the Prince and his lover in their tower he found that he no longer cared.
He would make the Prince see that he was meant for him and only him, even if it destroyed them both.
***
He raised the vial to the sun, letting its golden shadow fall on his face. This was dragon poison.
He was back in the woods, he had spent so many happy years here, this was where he was set free by Trowa, this was where all he ever wanted to be he became. This was where his world ended.
This was dragon poison.
He let the vial, fall from his hand and closed his eyes as he heard the glass shatter.
"A promise is a promise." He sighed turning to Heero. "Now I have destroyed so many dreams I can no longer remember when I have become so selfish." He stopped looking once more up at the sky.
"I have someplace else to be Heero." He whispered.
"Don't Duo."
"You don't understand." He said defeated, he left him and disappeared into the darkness of the woods.
/But I do Duo, for I have stolen your secrets./
***
"I know you are here." He called out. "Remind me to thank the Queen for her prudence in sending you out here and saving me the trouble of searching for Hell once more."
"Think of what you will lose Duo." Noin said melting from the shadows perched on a branch.
"It is not what I would lose but what I would gain."
"This is foolish first born."
"So it is." He stripped himself of all of his clothes and kneeled before the silver pool. Noin approached him, its hands clasped.
***
"There was one secret I think I should have told him." Heero said coming to his father's side. Noin threw away Duo's lacerated wings. Licking its hands free of angel blood.
"You told him all he needed to know."
"It seems unfair somehow, that something as beautiful as he would forfeit his immortality."
"It is fate's will and it is the path he has chosen." It looked at Duo's naked body curled on the floor. "Bathe him Taker of Secrets, his fate has run its course and this is what the world decreed him to be." Noin disappeared into the shadows once more and Heero was left with the shivering Duo.
***
notes: when they left hell it was around ten years after the war between elfin kind and the dragons ended
I like this part, I like hilde's characters the best ;P
//-thoughts
into the realm of frozen dreams
Part six:
Hell and it's Mistress
***
The darkness was what he hated most about hell. It had its own mind and the as it seeped into your heart, the despair would be enough to lose your soul. He felt Heero's hand tighten around his. He smiled he was incredibly brave.
"I haven't been here for so long." He heard Milliardo sigh.
The tunnel seemed to go one forever. Eternal darkness where you could feel nothing and cold voices breathed into your ears, chilling you from within.
Did he not choose the Prince over you? Why do you keep chasing him? If you take him do you think he would be taken?
A blinding light and they found themselves in hell's throne room.
The tall dais was perched on top of a long flight of stairs. The great hall was bare only the throne and the curtains falling from the domed ceiling. Winged angels hung from the ceiling, those that had fallen were the Demon Queen's most prized possession. His heart stopped as his eyes caught his sister's.
"Well, well, well if it isn't Crowned Prince Duo of the Angels." A voice sneered at them from above.
They strained their eyes to get a glimpse of the owner of the voice. Seated on her throne was the child Queen of the Demons. The twelve-foot chair made its small inhabitant even more miniscule.
"Hello Queen Hilde." Duo bowed. Milliardo climbed the steps and bowed to kiss the Queen's hand.
"Oh my, is this Milliardo?" she laughed. "He is beautiful, perhaps you should have never given him away Noin." Heero's eyes shifted from the young face of the queen to the one sitting beside her throne. Its head was laid on the Queen's lap she was running her fingers through its hair. Heero's eyes widened.
"What brings you to my realm?" she asked, her voice eternally a child's and unlike her people, she never shifted, she always stayed female. And she had only one companion, the eternally shifting Noin. It would never be satisfied with only one form or one partner. That was why it had not been proclaimed the Queen's King. Yet the Queen would not take another companion, only her elusive prize graced her chambers.
"I need to slay a dragon." Duo answered. The halls echoed with her laughter.
"So the elf has been taken from you." she sighed. "Duo, poor Duo don't you see that it is a waste of time to run after something? You would only tire yourself. Find another!"
Duo smiled at her, Noin looked up and caught Duo's eyes but its eyes moved to the boy beside him and it smiled. From where they were standing it was impossible to tell what gender Noin was now.
"Give me the liquid fire my Queen, please."
"You are pathetic first born, this elf you so treasure, are you sure he is worth everything that you have given up?"
Duo was silent. "You are a fool!"
"My Queen..." Milliardo tried to argue. Queen Hilde raised a hand to silence him.
"Stay with me first born and I will decide whether you will receive what you wish of me." she said waiving them away.
"Thank you my Queen." Duo bowed. Noin stood up and went to the two foreigners. Its hand brushing Heero's cheek.
"Your mother is with me child." It moved its face close to his cheek and passed its coarse tongue across it. A demon's kiss. "And you are beautiful."
Queen Hilde's expression grew cold once more. "So this is your son."
"Yes." Noin said showing its son with a father's pride. The queen eyed the boy with something akin to distaste.
"Half-breed." Was all she said. "Come now Noin, I am tired let us retire." She got up and Noin followed her like an obedient dog.
Heero followed his father with his eyes.
"Let us go to our quarters as well." Milliardo offered giving his hand, which Duo took and they walked into the darkened hallway.
***
Heero's hand stood poised on the door, what would he see on the other side?
He barely remembered his mother, he had only spent fifteen years in her arms before his village was massacred he was taken away by the Dragon Prince's horde. But he remembered her hands. Fragile and delicate and soft. He would watch her weaving for hours, mesmerized in the way her wrists moved and how her fingers let the shuttle fly.
He remembered how she buttoned his shirts and how she slapped him whenever he slandered his father.
And he remembered how she wiped his tears away.
Knock.
"Yes." He heard her voice. He pushed the heavy bronze doors and tentatively peered inside. Her back turned to him, she motioned for him to sit beside her. He shrugged.
She was sitting on an antique chair; the pattern carved on the wood Victorian, everything in hell was Victorian. She was facing a small table her eyes focused on a potted yellow tulip in the middle. Heero took the seat next to her.
"Mama..."
"Ssssh." She whispered putting her finger to her lips. The tulip began to open and singing filled the room, Heero looked around the room trying to find the ghostly singer when something caught his eye. Inside the tulip, gray and gossamer was the image of a woman, her feet planted in the tulip's heart and her face, melancholy matching her song.
Something ached at his heart seeing her beautiful face; her voice commanded him to listen to her wordless song and to memorize her almost forgotten face. Her closed eyes and her arms wrapped around her nakedness she sang until her song was finished and she turned to ash falling onto her flowered prison which wilted away leaving no remnant of the girl.
"And with that another soul is condemned." His mother finished. "Hell is beautiful and horrible at the same time." she smiled turning to him. "You are not Noin!" she gasped.
"It is me mama, Heero." He said looking at her.
"I had a son named Heero once. But they took him away from me." she said her voice wistful. "He had the most beautiful eyes. " she turned her attention elsewhere and Heero shook his head in his confusion.
"Mama it is me!"
"We had a song." She stood up and began to sing the lullaby she used to sing to her son.
Listen I have a secret.
A secret love no one knows.
He will come to me when the nightingales sing.
And we will leave for the land of the Ocean king!
He will bring me a rose, and a coffin and he will set me free.
For....
Heero looked at her painfully. "For jealous death hath taken him from me." he finished.
"That's not how it goes." She snapped at him.
"Mama, it is me!" he stressed taking her wrists in his arms.
"Let go of me!" she screamed. "You are the demon Queen and you will take Noin away from me!" she said in tears,
"I know how you tell my love lies and how you try to keep it from me!"
"Mama..."
"Keep away demon Queen or I will tear your heart out! " she said drawing into a corner. Heero stared at her horrified. He began to walk toward the door slowly and paused once more to look at her, she had began to dance to a music all her own. And Heero shook his head sadly.
***
Duo looked up at the sky, nothing was more beautiful than Hell's sky. There was no place with as many stars as there were here and it was eternally clear.
"Crowned Prince?" he heard Milliardo come toward him.
"Yes Milliardo." He said not taking his eyes from the sky.
"You should rest now."
"I remember one night not long ago when I looked up at the sky." He said lost in his own thoughts. "And no disrespect but your little carpet of stars cannot compare to it! Won't even come close." He smiled. That was the most beautiful sky he had ever seen no matter that the clouds obscured a third of the stars and the twin moons casting a ghastly light on everything it touched. It was still the most beautiful sky.
"I don't know why you still serve me. I set you free." He smirked looking at him. "Get it through your thick demon head!"
Little flecks of light began to pour from the heavens, coating them with tiny diamonds.
"What is this?" he asked catching some of the diamonds in his hands.
"It is the rain of tears my lord." Milliardo said looking up at the sky himself. Duo picked one up with his finger and brought it near his lips but it turned into water the moment it was touched and by the time it reached his lips it was nothing more than salty tears.
"I do not remember this." He laughed dancing in the falling crystals.
"It has always been here, it's just that the world did not use to shed so much." Duo stopped abruptly in his pirouette.
"If that is so than most of these are mine." He laughed sadly.
***
Wufei stared at the sheets in his hands his eyes filled with disgust and longing. And quickly lest someone should see him he brought it to his nostrils and inhaled deeply. He stopped suddenly aware of the other presence in the room.
"Pathetic isn't it?" he scoffed. The other did not answer him. "You must think I am pathetic."
"No. Just sad." His voice was low.
"He was mine before he ever became yours!" he spat at the other throwing the sheet back at the bed.
"I never asked him to be mine." Trowa said not moving from where the shadows concealed him.
"And still you took him!" Wufei's face burned with the humiliation. "How dare you mock me elf!"
"I do not mock you."
"By the look in your eyes you do."
"Forgive me then."
"He was mine."
"So he was."
"And now you have taken him from me."
"Why do you not take him back?" the mage shot him with a penetrating gaze full of hatred and disdain. "Oh I see. The curse of a mage and his lord." He couldn't help himself. He laughed.
"You dare mock me!"
"This time I do."
"I should kill you."
"Perhaps you should." Wufei stopped as if he was actually considering Trowa's challenge.
"No elf. I would hurt you where it would pain you the most." Trowa's heart stopped. "I will take him back from you." the mage smiled.
Trowa couldn't keep it in any longer and he burst out laughing. Wufei shouted curses at him but he did not hear them, he was too busy trying to keep his side from splitting. When he had regained his composure the mage was no where in sight and he wiped the tears from his eyes.
/These dragons are peculiar. Vainglorious and thick as a brick!/
He smiled. That was something Duo would have said.
***
Duo fidgeted in his seat and tugged at his collar.
/Stupid ruffles! Why can't they wear normal clothes?/
They were seated in the large dinning room waiting for their hosts to arrive. Seated beside him was Heero and Milliardo sat across him. He tugged at his collar once more.
"Duo stop that." Heero scolded him.
"I can't believe you can sit there and stand this Victorian ruffles and lace number!" he said behaving himself.
"Duo it has been sixteen years, you are the only one who hasn't gotten used to these clothes." Duo stopped has it been that long? Has he been here that long? Sixteen years and not even one step closer to retrieving the phoenix blood. He wondered if he should just kill one and drain the liquid fire from its veins. He shook his head then he would have to fight off Queen Hilde's horde as well as the dragon army.
Just then the Queen came into the room in all her ruffled glory escorted by Noin. They stood up to greet her and she sat on the head of the table. Duo watched Noin walk toward the end of the twenty-seat table and wondered why it always did that. Eat in solitude while they were only at the other end.
"So angel, what have you done today?" the queen asked. Duo sighed. This was getting tedious. Everyday for the last sixteen years they would meet at dinner and she would ask him this.
"I watched someone die your majesty." He said smiling.
"Oh? Well that is refreshing." She smiled. They began to eat and Duo kept looking at Noin. Deciding why it still bothered to join them. "Do you still fancy it Duo?" he jumped at her question and tried to focus his attention to his suddenly interesting plate.
"Noin, come here a moment dearest." She called. Like an obedient child it got up and went to her side. "Tell me Duo, does it look better as a woman or a man?"
Duo's eyes widened. "Noin was a female when we were lovers." He muttered quietly; he knew that Noin was a sore spot for the queen.
"So you like it better female?" Queen Hilde smiled. "Truthfully it is better to get a demon lover, you get variety with the way they change sexes." She winked and brought her goblet to her lips. "Not to mention they are better lovers than most races." She laughed.
"Hilde..." something in the demon's tone made them look toward it. "I am not a toy to be discussed anytime you wish." It said through clenched teeth. "I can only take so much and you my dear always go to far." It finished storming out of the room.
Queen Hilde got up and reached the demon before it had completely left the room. Some words were spoken between them, they argued a little. It seemed comical at first to see them; the queen trying to coax her lover like a parent would her child when it seemed that Hilde was the child between them. Suddenly the queen pushed Noin up against the wall and began to kiss it passionately her hands trying to find something to grasp. It wrapped its arms around her and the others were about to excuse themselves when Noin pushed her away.
"I will see you tomorrow Hilde." It muttered leaving the room. The queen watched it walk away for a moment before returning to her guests with her smile back in place and her cheeks flushed from embarrassment or exertion one couldn't tell.
"So you were saying about your day?" she said as she sat down once more.
***
He pushed open the door, letting his eyes adjust to the dimly lit room. He stopped in the doorway seeing her in its arms. He was about to turn around when a voice stopped him.
"Come here Heero." His father called.
"I passed by and saw the door open I thought something happened to her." He reasoned trying to avoid it.
"Oh I see, I must have left it open." It said still motioning for him to sit down. Heero sighed and closed the door settling into the chair. "You pass by her door every night don't you? You check on her. You must love her." Noin's back was leaning on the foot of the bed and his mother lay in its arms her head on his shoulder. Heero just looked at his parents.
"Heh, look at us complete at last." The demon smiled wistfully. "I knew she would come to this." It whispered smoothing her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ears. "Humans will not last long in the demon Queen's castle, they would eventually lose their minds."
"Then why did you let her?" Noin looked at him.
"I never could say no to her."
"But you did." He said his voice void of emotions.
"I thought it was for the best. But it seems I just hurt her." It said quietly.
"She is afraid the queen might harm her."
"Hilde would never dare harm her. Not if she wishes that I stay with her."
"Hn."
"I will take care of her. This time I promise I will." It said planting a kiss on her cheek. Heero got up and left them, closing the door on his way out.
***
When it opened the door to Duo's chambers it didn't expect to see Noin's child sitting on the bed. Its own surprised look mirroring the ones in the blue eyes staring back at it.
"I did not know you slept with him as well." He said looking away.
"Ah..." was all it said.
"How long?" Heero knew he had no right to be jealous but the pain still stabbed at him.
"Since we arrived here, when you are weren't there." It said sheepishly. "You, how long have you..."
"Since Langit." He said something akin to pride welling up in his chest at the knowledge that Duo found consolation in his arms first.
"I actually came to say goodbye. I can't take it anymore." Heero's eyebrows raised at the demon's confession. "You do know that we are only substitutes don't you?"
"Sometimes I pretend I am not." he said sadly.
"That is dangerous." It whispered awkwardly.
"To love him is dangerous." He answered.
"That is why I am pulling out before I fall even farther than where I am now." it said looking at the boy. "You should too."
"It is too late for me."
"Ah... I pity you then." It smiled moving towards the window. "And I pity myself as well."
"Demons fall only once you know and its forever." it said looking out of at the evening sky. "Just our luck we had to fall for him." a silence fell between them.
"I too used to pretend. And then I got tired of pretending."
"Milliardo..." it faced him. Heero looked at it sadly. The demon came towards the bed and tentatively kissed the other boy wrapping its arms around the smaller one's waist. He kissed back.
Both of them closed their eyes and pretended. Pretended one last time. Pretended that it was the angel they were making love to and that it would not end the moment the sunrise touched the curtains of his room.
***
She looked at her sleeping lover. Its arm draped around the human.
She smiled; she liked it better when it was female too.
/An eternity's worth of my love and you still return to her arms./
***
He looked up at her blank face, and kissed her cheek, she stirred a little and then returned to her empty stare. He wrapped his old clothes around her shoulders, tucking it into her chains so it wouldn't fall off.
/A gift my sister. A gift from the land we came from./
He fluttered to the floor and raised his eyes one last time. In his sixteen years in this place, he only had the courage to visit her today. His guilt washing over him.
"She was beautiful." She came into the room standing beside him.
"Yes she was." He looked away. "Can't sleep my Queen?"
"No." she sighed. "You know sometimes it is better to walk away Duo."
"My lady?"
"When you hold on to something, something you can't quite keep. You will cause him more grief than you could ever imagine. Some things are better left where they are." She looked up at her angels.
"And sometimes no matter how much you want to you can no longer let go."
"My Queen..."
"You are running out of titles my child." She smiled. "Promise me you will not hold on to him if he does not wish to be held by you."
"I promise." He said after sometime. She opened her hand and revealed a vial filled with golden liquid.
"Here is your poison. It is your poison make no mistake about that."
"Thank you." he said taking the vial from her hand.
"Give me a kiss Angel kind's first born for you will ask one last gift from me." She smiled and tilted his face to hers as they shared their first and final kiss.
***
He looked at her sleeping form. They would leave soon and he wanted to sat goodbye. If only she recognized him.
"I am leaving mama..." he whispered to her ear.
"Heero?" she asked in her sleep.
"Yes."
"Hmmm what are you doing here sweetheart?"
"I came to see you."
"Oh, you're father is here." He almost laughed. She only identified him in her sleep.
"I know." he smiled stroking her hair. "Mama how do you keep from falling in love?" he asked not really wanting to hear an answer but wanting to say it nonetheless.
"You can't. " she whispered falling back into sleep. He hummed their lullaby as she mouthed the words. "...for jealous death hath taken him from me..." she muttered.
"Heero we must leave now." Milliardo called from the outside.
"Sleep well mama." he smiled kissing her on the forehead.
***
The liquid fire burned his palms but Duo did not care. He would kill the Dragon Prince. They stepped out of the iron gates and were greeted by a world aged by twenty years.
"Duo, is that you?" he whipped around and saw Une come running toward him.
"We are in elfin country?" He asked suddenly stunned.
"The gate takes us where we need to be." Milliardo muttered.
"I needed to see you, thank heavens you are here." She said reaching them. "I carry a message from Trowa..."
***
Part of him wanted to run away from him and find Duo and die in his arms. Part of him couldn't leave. He had caused so much pain to so many around him and this was the only way he knew to make it right. For once he wouldn't be selfish. For once he would forget his own heart.
/If only it were that easy to forget./
"Trowa, come here luv." He called.
"Yes?"
"Look at this, if we put the army here...." He looked at the Prince's blue eyes. Could he forget?
***
"But I don't understand..." Wufei reasoned.
"Haha you are an idiot!" Prince Quatre laughed waving his hand in the air. "
"We were lovers."
"Yes we were but that was ages ago. Oh don't tell me you actually fell in love with me?" the confused look on the mage's face made him laugh even more. "You poor, poor boy. Don't you get it? I needed the strongest mage to protect me! And I would have done everything in my power to ensure that I will ascend to the throne. Even if I had to fuck a virgin, awkward, apprentice conjuror."
"But..."
"Oh Wufei you slay me!" he laughed one more time. "But now since you did bring it up, I have no more use for you, seeing as I have all the dragon mages at my beck and call!"
"I was..."
"You were the best, and I had the best now you have outgrown your usefulness." He winked at the confused boy.
"So you may leave now, I relieve you from your duty." Wufei just stared at him disbelief plastered all over his face.
"Oddly enough you were the only one that was a real threat to me." he laughed once more as Wufei turned his back to leave. "Oh and for what it is worth, you were a great lay."
"You turned him against me you dirty whore!" he spat at his face. Trowa calmly wiped his spittle from his eye and looked at him.
"If that is what you believe than you are a moron." He said walking past him.
"I will take him back." Trowa stopped and looked back at the seething dragon mage.
"May I remind you that you have a separation spell cast between you. Touch him now and both of you will die." He said walking on.
Wufei looked at his hands, the shame and disappointment coloring him a different shade of red. And as he looked up at the Prince and his lover in their tower he found that he no longer cared.
He would make the Prince see that he was meant for him and only him, even if it destroyed them both.
***
He raised the vial to the sun, letting its golden shadow fall on his face. This was dragon poison.
He was back in the woods, he had spent so many happy years here, this was where he was set free by Trowa, this was where all he ever wanted to be he became. This was where his world ended.
This was dragon poison.
He let the vial, fall from his hand and closed his eyes as he heard the glass shatter.
"A promise is a promise." He sighed turning to Heero. "Now I have destroyed so many dreams I can no longer remember when I have become so selfish." He stopped looking once more up at the sky.
"I have someplace else to be Heero." He whispered.
"Don't Duo."
"You don't understand." He said defeated, he left him and disappeared into the darkness of the woods.
/But I do Duo, for I have stolen your secrets./
***
"I know you are here." He called out. "Remind me to thank the Queen for her prudence in sending you out here and saving me the trouble of searching for Hell once more."
"Think of what you will lose Duo." Noin said melting from the shadows perched on a branch.
"It is not what I would lose but what I would gain."
"This is foolish first born."
"So it is." He stripped himself of all of his clothes and kneeled before the silver pool. Noin approached him, its hands clasped.
***
"There was one secret I think I should have told him." Heero said coming to his father's side. Noin threw away Duo's lacerated wings. Licking its hands free of angel blood.
"You told him all he needed to know."
"It seems unfair somehow, that something as beautiful as he would forfeit his immortality."
"It is fate's will and it is the path he has chosen." It looked at Duo's naked body curled on the floor. "Bathe him Taker of Secrets, his fate has run its course and this is what the world decreed him to be." Noin disappeared into the shadows once more and Heero was left with the shivering Duo.
***
notes: when they left hell it was around ten years after the war between elfin kind and the dragons ended
I like this part, I like hilde's characters the best ;P
