Part Five of "Eien ni" By Marie Whi Mitshue (5 of 6)
1 Author's Warning: Some pain, some blood, some despair…*sigh* … things'll get better soon… or I'm gonna have to kill the munchkin in my head! Hurry, Heero, Duo needs you…K'so, I get into this too much! I wrote it, you think it wouldn't affect me so…*sniff* …
//thoughts//
*emphasis* (the more **, the greater the emphasis)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo Maxwell groaned and yelped as the interrogator stuck a needle in his arm. Almost immediately, everything around him went soft-focused and fuzzy. Oh, wait, that was his eyesight… what the hell had…they …given … oh, booooy, he felt all tingly and distant.
"Zero-Two, hear your friend screaming? He needs you to help him. Can't you hear the pain he's in?" A low voice asked in his ear, loud in the silent room.
And suddenly, Duo could. Heero was screaming, tortured voice raw enough to tear his throat, begging as Heero had never begged, crying for Duo to help him, to stop the terrible pain…
"***HEERO!!!***" Duo screamed. "NO!! Leave him alone! *PLEASE, leave my itooshi alone!!!*"
"Eh?!!" The low voice gasped in surprise. "Your* itooshi*?!? Well, well, we can certainly use this."
Duo tried to break his bonds, but he was far, far too weak. His broken ribs and his fractured wrist throbbed distantly, but it was if they belonged to someone else.
"Listen, your itooshi is here, lying before you on the floor, bleeding and weak." The voice murmured in Duo's ear.
And Duo could see him, sprawled on the cold, dirty floor, in torn black spandex shorts and nothing else, sleek, muscled body awash with blood and mottled with terrible bruises and injuries. He was on his stomach, arms and legs outspread, face turned towards Duo, eyes closed, dark brown, messy hair matted with blood.
"***Heero!!***" Duo gasped out despairingly.
Heero's cobalt eyes opened and they turned slowly to Duo, bright blue pools of agony and fear.
"D… Duo…" The hallucination whispered through split and bloodied lips. "… help… me… get… the..t..the …others… please… HELP ME…!!"
The sly voice muttered in Duo's ear again. "Aren't you going to help him? He's dying –"
Heero moaned and clutched at his side, a pool of red spreading beneath him, oozing over and between his fingers.
"- and only getting the other gundam pilots here will save him."
"… Duo… my… Duo.." The hallucination gasped. "Don't… let me… die like … this…"
"Heero! Oh, God, I can't! Save him, please. I'll… I'll …do … anything …*JUST SAVE HIM*!!!" Duo screamed and tears tracking down his face, desperate and frantic, despite the drug haze that hung over him.
"Where are the other gundam pilots?" That low, insidious voice asked in Duo's ear.
Duo bowed his head, tears dripping off his face. "In… at… co- ordinates 305… by… by 298, in the… the JAP area…" He told them the location of one of the more frequently used safe houses. "Please, **help Heero!!**"
"He was never here." That hateful voice laughed.
Duo's head snapped up and he saw the apparition of his love fade away, even the spilled blood beneath him vanishing.
And Duo knew he had betrayed them all, betrayed his friends, betrayed *Heero*…
"****HEERO!!NONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! HEERO!!!****" Duo screamed.
He was still screaming in utter despair when they came to drag him back to his cell.
~~~~~~
Heero ran silently through the base, a shadow flitting through the service passages and little used corridors. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were attacking the base with their gundams for a diversion, helped by the Treize faction soldiers who were attacking from the inside. Everything was in chaos, and they probably wouldn't have paid any attention to Heero, but none of them were in any position to notice.
//Duo's alive!// Was all that was going through his head. He was hurt badly, but alive. //Hold on, Duo! I'm coming!!//
~~~~~~
Duo crouched in his cell, banging his fractured wrist against the wall. The crude splint lay on the floor in pieces. The pain that screamed sharply up his arm at each blow of injured arm to hard surface was nothing next to the pain in his soul. He had betrayed them: gentle Quatre, calm Trowa, fierce Wufei… and his beautiful Heero.
He deserved all the pain he could cause… he deserved to die.
He could just see them lying in the rubble and ruins of the destroyed safehouse: Quatre sprawled beneath Trowa, who had tried to protect his koi to the end, blood soaking the Arabian's platinum blond hair, soaking Trowa's hair, turtleneck slashed, blood everywhere. Quatre's hand clutched around Trowa's neck, Trowa's hand cupping Quatre's cheek; their last actions in this world had been to touch each other.
He could see Wufei sprawled, sword still grasped in his mangled hand, blood obscenely bright across his white tunic front, serene face slashed open, all the way to his midnight-dark hair.
And Heero… he could see his Heero fallen against the ruin of one wall… rubble that had been one of the walls in Duo's room. His chest was a swirl of torn tissue and muscle, blood, ripped green fabric, shattered bone gleaming whitely deep in the wound. His eyes were open, blank, *dead*, blood smeared up one cheek, down his temple, messy brown bangs wet with blood and clinging to his skin.
"I should give myself a new name," He sobbed. "Ore wa Shinigami no longer, I am now the Great Betrayer… betrayer of all I loved and hold dear." He slammed his injured hand harder against the wall, in self-punishment, hoping the pain he knew he deserved would blot out the images of his friends mangled bodies. He was rewarded by a sharp crack, and a fresh, thick wave of sickening pain swarmed up his arm. He fell against the wall, gasping and gagging, stars floating before his eyes … but still it wasn't enough to rid his mind of the image of Heero and the others dead bodies … dead because of him.
"Heero…" He wept.
There was a sudden scuffle and thump outside his cell door. Then the door slid open, a slim, heart-breakingly familiar figure silhouetted in the bright light coming from the hall.
"Duo? Ouch, that looks bad." Heero's voice said calmly as he knelt and those intense cobalt eyes assessed his wounds.
"It's another hallucination…" Duo breathed, tears still dripping down his bruised and bloodied face. "It's the drugs, I know it, 'cause I betrayed you and right now you're lying dead in a pool of blood in the destroyed safehouse, Quatre's, and Trowa's, and Wufei's bodies nearby." He babbled. "'Cause Ore wa Great Betrayer, and I deserve to die…"
"Duo, don't say that!" Heero snapped, voice wavering –or would have wavered had he been anyone but Heero-the-Perfect-Soldier-Yuy. "We have to get out of here. The others and some Treize soldiers are making a diversion, but it won't last long, especially if they call in more mobile dolls…"
"You're real…?!" Duo whimpered. He reached up to touch his koi's face…and his mangled wrist sent a whirlwind of agony through him in protest, and Duo let out a short scream as blackness and pain swallowed him up.
As Duo passed out, Heero caught him, swept him up in his arms. He sped out of the cell, glad Duo was in his arms and safe, but knowing there were going to be dark days ahead, for Duo believed he had betrayed them and his emotional state would be fragile and unstable…
//It'll be okay, Duo. You didn't truly betray us, you couldn't help it, you were drugged…I'm just so glad you're alive…oh, Duo…I love you so much…eien ni…//
Ore wa Shinigami – I am Shinigami! (Boastful)
End of Part Five
1 Author's Warning: Some pain, some blood, some despair…*sigh* … things'll get better soon… or I'm gonna have to kill the munchkin in my head! Hurry, Heero, Duo needs you…K'so, I get into this too much! I wrote it, you think it wouldn't affect me so…*sniff* …
//thoughts//
*emphasis* (the more **, the greater the emphasis)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo Maxwell groaned and yelped as the interrogator stuck a needle in his arm. Almost immediately, everything around him went soft-focused and fuzzy. Oh, wait, that was his eyesight… what the hell had…they …given … oh, booooy, he felt all tingly and distant.
"Zero-Two, hear your friend screaming? He needs you to help him. Can't you hear the pain he's in?" A low voice asked in his ear, loud in the silent room.
And suddenly, Duo could. Heero was screaming, tortured voice raw enough to tear his throat, begging as Heero had never begged, crying for Duo to help him, to stop the terrible pain…
"***HEERO!!!***" Duo screamed. "NO!! Leave him alone! *PLEASE, leave my itooshi alone!!!*"
"Eh?!!" The low voice gasped in surprise. "Your* itooshi*?!? Well, well, we can certainly use this."
Duo tried to break his bonds, but he was far, far too weak. His broken ribs and his fractured wrist throbbed distantly, but it was if they belonged to someone else.
"Listen, your itooshi is here, lying before you on the floor, bleeding and weak." The voice murmured in Duo's ear.
And Duo could see him, sprawled on the cold, dirty floor, in torn black spandex shorts and nothing else, sleek, muscled body awash with blood and mottled with terrible bruises and injuries. He was on his stomach, arms and legs outspread, face turned towards Duo, eyes closed, dark brown, messy hair matted with blood.
"***Heero!!***" Duo gasped out despairingly.
Heero's cobalt eyes opened and they turned slowly to Duo, bright blue pools of agony and fear.
"D… Duo…" The hallucination whispered through split and bloodied lips. "… help… me… get… the..t..the …others… please… HELP ME…!!"
The sly voice muttered in Duo's ear again. "Aren't you going to help him? He's dying –"
Heero moaned and clutched at his side, a pool of red spreading beneath him, oozing over and between his fingers.
"- and only getting the other gundam pilots here will save him."
"… Duo… my… Duo.." The hallucination gasped. "Don't… let me… die like … this…"
"Heero! Oh, God, I can't! Save him, please. I'll… I'll …do … anything …*JUST SAVE HIM*!!!" Duo screamed and tears tracking down his face, desperate and frantic, despite the drug haze that hung over him.
"Where are the other gundam pilots?" That low, insidious voice asked in Duo's ear.
Duo bowed his head, tears dripping off his face. "In… at… co- ordinates 305… by… by 298, in the… the JAP area…" He told them the location of one of the more frequently used safe houses. "Please, **help Heero!!**"
"He was never here." That hateful voice laughed.
Duo's head snapped up and he saw the apparition of his love fade away, even the spilled blood beneath him vanishing.
And Duo knew he had betrayed them all, betrayed his friends, betrayed *Heero*…
"****HEERO!!NONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! HEERO!!!****" Duo screamed.
He was still screaming in utter despair when they came to drag him back to his cell.
~~~~~~
Heero ran silently through the base, a shadow flitting through the service passages and little used corridors. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were attacking the base with their gundams for a diversion, helped by the Treize faction soldiers who were attacking from the inside. Everything was in chaos, and they probably wouldn't have paid any attention to Heero, but none of them were in any position to notice.
//Duo's alive!// Was all that was going through his head. He was hurt badly, but alive. //Hold on, Duo! I'm coming!!//
~~~~~~
Duo crouched in his cell, banging his fractured wrist against the wall. The crude splint lay on the floor in pieces. The pain that screamed sharply up his arm at each blow of injured arm to hard surface was nothing next to the pain in his soul. He had betrayed them: gentle Quatre, calm Trowa, fierce Wufei… and his beautiful Heero.
He deserved all the pain he could cause… he deserved to die.
He could just see them lying in the rubble and ruins of the destroyed safehouse: Quatre sprawled beneath Trowa, who had tried to protect his koi to the end, blood soaking the Arabian's platinum blond hair, soaking Trowa's hair, turtleneck slashed, blood everywhere. Quatre's hand clutched around Trowa's neck, Trowa's hand cupping Quatre's cheek; their last actions in this world had been to touch each other.
He could see Wufei sprawled, sword still grasped in his mangled hand, blood obscenely bright across his white tunic front, serene face slashed open, all the way to his midnight-dark hair.
And Heero… he could see his Heero fallen against the ruin of one wall… rubble that had been one of the walls in Duo's room. His chest was a swirl of torn tissue and muscle, blood, ripped green fabric, shattered bone gleaming whitely deep in the wound. His eyes were open, blank, *dead*, blood smeared up one cheek, down his temple, messy brown bangs wet with blood and clinging to his skin.
"I should give myself a new name," He sobbed. "Ore wa Shinigami no longer, I am now the Great Betrayer… betrayer of all I loved and hold dear." He slammed his injured hand harder against the wall, in self-punishment, hoping the pain he knew he deserved would blot out the images of his friends mangled bodies. He was rewarded by a sharp crack, and a fresh, thick wave of sickening pain swarmed up his arm. He fell against the wall, gasping and gagging, stars floating before his eyes … but still it wasn't enough to rid his mind of the image of Heero and the others dead bodies … dead because of him.
"Heero…" He wept.
There was a sudden scuffle and thump outside his cell door. Then the door slid open, a slim, heart-breakingly familiar figure silhouetted in the bright light coming from the hall.
"Duo? Ouch, that looks bad." Heero's voice said calmly as he knelt and those intense cobalt eyes assessed his wounds.
"It's another hallucination…" Duo breathed, tears still dripping down his bruised and bloodied face. "It's the drugs, I know it, 'cause I betrayed you and right now you're lying dead in a pool of blood in the destroyed safehouse, Quatre's, and Trowa's, and Wufei's bodies nearby." He babbled. "'Cause Ore wa Great Betrayer, and I deserve to die…"
"Duo, don't say that!" Heero snapped, voice wavering –or would have wavered had he been anyone but Heero-the-Perfect-Soldier-Yuy. "We have to get out of here. The others and some Treize soldiers are making a diversion, but it won't last long, especially if they call in more mobile dolls…"
"You're real…?!" Duo whimpered. He reached up to touch his koi's face…and his mangled wrist sent a whirlwind of agony through him in protest, and Duo let out a short scream as blackness and pain swallowed him up.
As Duo passed out, Heero caught him, swept him up in his arms. He sped out of the cell, glad Duo was in his arms and safe, but knowing there were going to be dark days ahead, for Duo believed he had betrayed them and his emotional state would be fragile and unstable…
//It'll be okay, Duo. You didn't truly betray us, you couldn't help it, you were drugged…I'm just so glad you're alive…oh, Duo…I love you so much…eien ni…//
Ore wa Shinigami – I am Shinigami! (Boastful)
End of Part Five