Well this is the final chapter folks… hope you enjoy!
This chapter might get a little confusing with all of the thinking stuff so….
::thoughts::
~voices~
@FB@= flashback
@END FB@= end of the flashback
***where dream starts and ends
^ Previous chapter^
^
"I gave you a little… clue… and like the good dog you are, you followed it. To make a long story short… you ended up saving that worthless doctor like planned and you died in the process!" Cheerfulness spread throughout his voice and he sat up from his chair walking back over to Heero. "And here you are… you are mine now."
^
::Dead? I'm… dead? But if I'm dead… why am I still in this cell… Is this hell?::
"Who are you?" Heero tried asking for the third time, never taking his eyes off of the too cheerful man in front of him.
"Hmm… interesting question that one is! I guess you could call me… a demon, but not. Or a ghost who haunts dreams, but not. Or a man who walks through dreams, but not. Or the reaper of all dreams, but not. I am all of those yet none of those. But you can call me Red."
The man grinned at his little riddle and walked over to the end of the room where the door stood. Heero's breath caught in his throat as 'Red' slowly opened the door. "Yes, yes… be afraid my little pet. Your friends will be here shortly to… play with you."
Heero never took his eyes off the door. He could feel the fear burning inside of him and seeping out of his body towards Red. ::Wait a minute? Its seeping out of my body?:: Then realization dawned on him. ::This man eats off of my fears. He said something like that himself. Does that mean… The ghosts are his doing? He is the one who controls them, he is the one making me feel like this? Making me feel guilty. Yes… he said so himself… he said he made me slit my wrists…:: Heero's eyes widened for a second as something else dawned on him.
::This man had said he made me slit my wrists yet he knew I wasn't going to die? Why couldn't he just make me do something to really kill myself… What is he hiding?::
"Your lying." It all became clear, Heero knew something wasn't right and what the man had just said may have confirmed that. Throughout the conversation, he picked up bits of hesitancy from this 'Red' man. Something was wrong, he was hiding something. Heero was starting to get a vague idea of what it was.
"Lying? Why… whatever do you mean? I was being very truthful to you!" Red sneered.
::Well here goes nothing…:: Blue eyes raised and stared at the mocking gray ones. "I think you lying, I don't think I'm actually… dead." For a millisecond the gray eyes flashed something resembling fear before it was replaced by anger. If Heero hadn't seen it he, might have believed the man when he said he was dead.
"W-what? How can you believe that you are alive hmmm? You got shot in the head! You're dead! DEAD!" The man launched forward and attached his arms around Heero's neck squeezing slightly. "You cant deny it… you KNOW you are dead. Admit it!!"
Voices filled his head, telling him he should agree with the man. Choking, Heero managed to get a little bit of air, enough to answer the man with a whispered "no". That answer was not what the man was looking for, Red started to shoot angry sparks again as he picked Heero off of the ground by his neck.
"Listen to me you little brat… you will believe everything I tell you or I will bring out everyone of your little 'fears'…" He snarled while throwing Heero into the wall. Heero collapsed and fell down on the ground holding his throat taking in deep breaths.
Breaths, how can he breath if he was dead? He stood up off the ground and glared at the man. Surprise ran through him as he realized he could now move freely. ::But for how long?:: The gray eyes were looking towards the door. The door that was always in his dreams… ::dreams… that's it!::
"You even admitted it yourself," Heero walked closer to the man. Fear was no longer in his mind. He had a new mission, to not fall prey to this lunatic. He would get out of this hell and return to Duo, anyway possible. This mad man might get stronger if he showed fear… but what would happen if he fed off of… confidence… happiness? "You told me you were a ghost who haunts dreams, a man who walks through dreams, and the reaper of all dreams. Now this is interesting, I didn't know that dead guys 'had' dreams."
"SHUT UP! You don't know what you are talking about!" The sparks started to transform into long whip like tentacles of energy. Red was now staring frightened at the door as if waiting for something to come out.
Heero smirked, he was obviously doing something to the man. "I'm not dead." He said simply as he turned his attention to the door also.
Red shrieked and his eyes went wide. "Why aren't they coming? WHERE ARE THEY?" He dropped to his knees and started to shake violently.
"This is my dream… not yours." Heero started, "And therefore, I control what happens in my dream, right?" He walked up to the man who was now shivering on the floor. Heero smiled when he thought of something else. Out of this air a gun appeared. He took it and aimed it at Red.
"NO! I will not lose LIKE this!" Red jumped to his feet and charged at Heero, knocking the gun from his hand. The whip like sparks burned into Heero's skin making him scream and squirm. "Yes… YES, feel fear, be afraid of me!"
Heero closed his eyes, and fought to get free of the long limbs holding him down. Fear… he could feel it coming back inside of him. ::No… stop it… cant lose… wont lose!:: He screamed again as one of the whips hit him in the face, he gave up struggling and laid still. ::This isn't… working…::
~Heero! Please wake up…~ Heero's eyes shot open… he recognized that voice… it was Duo.
::Duo… that's right, I have to go back to Duo… I… I want to live for him… Need to be with him. I want to be with him.:: All his fear suddenly disappeared and he found himself opening his eyes to look at frightened gray ones.
The mans eyes were wide and he was shaking again. "What are you doing??? Stop thinking like that! You want to die! You've always wanted to die! STOP IT!"
"I want to live." Blue eyes looked seriously at Red. Heero's face showed no fear, no emotions other than determination. He was going to get out of this, for his friends, for Duo… and himself. "I have people who care about me… They are waiting for me, and I will go back to them."
Bright red light filled the room. The man in front of Heero screeched and wailed as if this light was burning him from the inside out. His long fingers curled around his black hair, pulling strands out. Falling to the floor he curled into a ball and looked one last time up at the boy who did this to him. Gray eyes pleaded with Heero without words.
"Get out of my dream." Heero stated calmly. At that, the man choked back a sob and then was gone.
The room started to sway suddenly causing Heero to fall to the ground. "What's happening?" The door was now swinging open and shut numerous time before simply flying off of the hinges. Rocks started falling from the ceiling and Heero found himself desperately trying to dodge them.
The floor finally gave way just as the ceiling was about to and Heero felt himself falling. He fell back into the blackness where he had first heard Red's voice. He was back into the nothingness.
::What the hell? Why am I back here?:: This time no one was there to answer his question, and he wondered idly what had happened to the man who haunted his dreams. If he could be called a man at all, he was more like a demon. Heero sat in the darkness for what seemed like forever, he felt helpless once again. ::Why am I stuck here? I want to go back! I want to go home!::
Suddenly Heero could see a tiny light far down below. He made his way to it blindly, going on instinct. The light grew brighter and the next thing he knew he was flat on his face on hard ground. "What the?"
*********
Duo sat in the middle of nowhere, looking at nothing, thoughts drifting to Heero. "Hmm… this dream world is looking pretty bad."
Duo had fallen asleep while at the hospital, it seemed he was there too much lately, and the present situation had him by Heero's side in the hospital almost twenty four hours a day.
His thoughts drifted back to the accident. He had been asleep at the time, it seems someone had drugged him, which he wasn't very happy about. Quatre had woken him up and Duo had been frightened by the tears in his light blue eyes. Automatically fearing for the worst he had demanded to know what was wrong. It took the blond boy another ten minutes to finally calm down and tell him about Heero being shot.
@FB@
"Quatre! Calm down and tell me what's wrong!" Duo demanded of the blond boy. Trowa was now holding him in an embrace looking just as confused as Duo.
"W-Wufei called…" He started as he tried desperately to wipe away the remains of his tears.
"Is something wrong with Heero?! What happened?! Is he alright?! Did they get in another accident?!" In a panicked voice Duo asked loudly as he grabbed on to the front of Quatre's shirt.
"DUO! Your making it worse." Trowa scolded. Quatre was now crying harder from Duo's outburst and Trowa had an almost scared look on his face. Another of the emotions that Duo would have been amazed to see if he hadn't been so hysterical.
Taking a couple deep breaths Quatre finally continued. "Y-you need to go to the hos- hospital. Heero was… Heero was s-shot… in the head… it went thr-"
Duo didn't hear the rest of what Quatre was saying. His brain just repeated the word 'shot' over and over again like a broken record. ::no… Why? Why does Heero always…::
"DAMN IT!" Picking up the nearest object, Duo threw it across the room. He heard a shatter and realized it must have been a vase or something. He wasn't to sure, and he really didn't care at the moment. He stormed out of the room, his destination the hospital.
The next hour went by in a daze, he didn't know quite how he got to the hospital, he was to unfocused. Duo couldn't help but think that if Heero died, he would die too.
Walking into the emergency room, Duo saw Wufei standing by one of the doors with his head in his hands. "Wufei!"
The Chinese man looked up at him, his face showing horror. "Duo… I… should have gone in with him… could have…"
"Snap out of it and tell me how Heero is God damnit! Where is he? What happened?" Duo snarled.
Wufei looked pretty shaken up, he felt like he had betrayed everyone's trust. He was suppose to make sure Heero was alright, suppose to watch over him. Failure, that's what he felt like. He swallowed his thoughts and explained what had happened to Duo. His voice was surprisingly calm, betraying the turmoil that was going on inside of him.
"For what I know, there was a gang shootout. One of the gang members were brought to the hospital with a leg wound. The… police, they were suppose to be watching him… but he somehow had a gun which he held on one of the doctors." Wufei took in a deep breath, "Heero… they say, pushed the doctor out of the way of the mans bullet. He… got shot instead of the doctor. But…" His brows furrowed and Duo could see that he was confused about something.
"But?"
"I don't understand, Heero was suppose to be on the other side of the building getting his stitches taken out. He wasn't suppose to be there…"
"Don't worry about that now! How… how's Heero doing?" Duo asked. His heart started to beat faster as he thought of Heero sitting somewhere on an operating slate.
"He just got out of the operating room. He… its not looking so good."
"What do you mean?" Duo asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"He's in a coma. There are not any guarantees that he'll… wake up. And they still are not sure if he'll…"
"Where is he, I want to see him NOW."
@END FB@
Duo had stayed by Heero's side most of the time after that. Quatre was a wreck and became sick every time he came into the hospital room. Trowa had explained later that Quatre was getting some horrible feelings off of the sleeping Heero.
Now, Duo was asleep on a chair beside the white hospital bed. He was actually relieved to see he was back in the dream clearing, or what was left of it. It brought him hope that Heero would appear soon. Just as his thoughts went back to the short haired boy there was a loud 'thump' from behind. Whirling around towards the sound Duo's eyes went wide when he saw a body face down on the ground.
"Heero!" Heero turned and saw Duo standing wide eyed in the middle of… well, nothingness. The sky was now a purple color with an eerie looking moon hanging between black clouds. What was once a beautiful clearing of trees and grass was now a pile of black dirt. It was dark like night time, something you would see in old horror films of the graveyard.
"What's happened here?" He asked the braided boy.
Duo didn't answer. After he got over his shock of seeing Heero, he ran up and threw his arms around him. "God Heero… I… wont you wake up?"
"Wake up? What are you talking about?" As glad as he was to see Duo, even if it was only in his dream, he felt something was wrong.
"Your… The accident… Coma." Tears were running down his smooth cheek and he was looking at Heero with sadness filled eyes. "They said you might n-never wake up." He was sniffing and trying desperately to wipe the tears away. He did not want to cry, Shinigami wasn't suppose to cry, but when he had found out that Heero was seriously hurt he felt like a piece of him was missing. Duo wanted more than anything for those blue eyes to open up and smile at him, to tell him everything was going to be ok. But days went by and Heero had made no sign of awakening. Depression was starting to eat at him and he was becoming weaker from lack of food. He wanted to stay and hold on to Heero's hand forever, but he knew it wasn't possible.
"Coma?" Confusion filled Heero's blue eyes and he tightened his grip on the still sobbing boy. ::That explains it… Red must have wanted me to go into a coma, that way he could…:: He shuddered and drew his thoughts away from the situation he had just been in.
"Y-you got shot… and you've been asleep for t-two weeks, I think."
"WHAT?" Had he really been dreaming for two whole weeks? Maybe he was in the darkness longer than he thought. After all, how can someone tell time while dreaming? It hadn't even occurred to Heero that he might have been gone that long. What had happened while he was gone? Duo seemed to be emotionally drained as it was.
"Heero… Heero… Heero…" Duo was holding on to him like he thought he might disappear if he let go. Watching him like this made Heero's heart twist in agony.
"I'm sorry Duo, I'm so sorry." Pressing his head against the top of Duo's head, Heero sighed. He always seemed to make Duo sad.
"NO!" Violet eyes looked up, "Its not your fault!"
Heero was about to comment when a cold chill ran down his spine as he felt a familiar presence. Looking around he stared in disbelief into cold gray eyes looking directly at Duo. About three feet from where they stood, Red was standing grinning wickedly at Duo.
"Shit!" Heero grabbed Duo by the hand and pulled him behind his back. Glaring at the man, he asked, "What do you want?"
The man chuckled, "You didn't think you'd get rid of me 'that' easily now did you?" Even though he was speaking to Heero, his cold gray eyes never left Duo. "So this is the one… I must admit, he is quite gorgeous. Oh! And his mind might be just what I've been looking for."
"Stay away from him." Anger coursed through Heero's veins.
"I do believe that you are not to decide these things." The man disappeared and Heero jumped slightly when he reappeared quickly behind them, reaching a hand out to Duo. "Duo… is it?" His eyes roamed over the braided boys slim figure. Then looked directly into confused violet eyes. "You don't deserve Heero."
Duo felt his heart start to beat faster, and his blood was running cold. "W-who?"
"You are worthless, you do not deserve Heero. He would never want you." The gray eyes seemed to darken slightly, "Come with me!"
::I don't deserve Heero… I don't, I failed him. Its all my fault:: Duo took a step towards the man. He heard Heero yelling something behind him, but he could not understand it. For some reason he was being drawn to the man, did he want to be punished? ::What's happening to me? I…:: A hand grabbed his and he was turned abruptly around to face the scared looking Heero. He was saying something again, but Duo couldn't hear. The voices in his head seemed to be blocking every other sound out.
~Don't deserve him… failed him… must leave.~ He tried to get the hand holding him to let go, but the grip just tightened.
::Why? Why does he hold on to me? I don't deserve him. Do I not deserve him? When did I start thinking like that?:: He was confused and starting to get scared. One voice was telling him to run away, another was saying to not listen. ::WHAT THE HELL?!:: The voices became louder.
~You must be punished~
~You failed him~
::Failed?::
~Don't deserve him~
~Deserve to be miserable~
::Why? I… cant remember::
~You left him, he got hurt because you left him all alone~
::What?::
~You left him… went away to L2, left him alone. Alone.~
::But… Was I… the cause of his suffering?::
~Yes~
~Its all your fault.~
A scream tore through the silence of the dream world. Duo collapsed onto the ground holding his head in his hands. "NO!" he yelled. "Stop… I don't know… what to think… just SHUT UP!"
"Duo! Duo answer me!" Heero's scared voice was finally heard. Duo looked up at him and saw his eyes were wide and he was shaking hard.
"Heero?" Relief washed over Heero's face and he took a hold of Duo's shoulders, in order to look into the scared violet pools.
"Are you ok?"
How could he answer that? Duo was not entirely alright but he didn't want to worry Heero. "I don't know…" He looked around and saw that the man was still standing there with a smirk on his lips. "What's going on?"
"Listen to me Duo, do not listen to him! Do you understand?" Heero's eyes flashed back to the anger he was feeling as he looked at the black haired man.
"Who is he?"
"I don't really know… but he is the one who caused me to have those nightmares." As Heero said this Duo felt his eyes grow wide. He looked over to the man and felt anger welling up inside of him.
"You?"
Red seemed startled for a second. He wasn't expecting the braided boy to change from frightened to angry so quickly. "He's lying… you are the cause of his nightmares. Its all your fault!"
"My fault?" Duo asked.
"NO!" Heero yelled. "Don't listen to him! Trust me."
Reds eyes turned dark again and Duo heard the voices returning to his mind. ::Stop… no… I understand now… you are trying to hurt Heero through me aren't you? I will not let him suffer anymore. GET OUT OF ME HEAD!:: He screamed in his mind.
Red growled and took a step back. "Why cant I control you!?"
"I will never let you touch him!" Heero took a step towards Red and concentrated. Out of the thin air a sword was produced. He smirked as he saw the horror flashing through the demons face.
"H-how?"
"This is a dream remember… This is MY dream, things happen my way." Holding out the sword he pressed it against the frozen mans throat. "You are not wanted here! Therefore, you must be eliminated." In one swift movement the sword was thrust through Red's neck.
Red tried to scream but no sound would come out. He couldn't move, he couldn't breath. Black liquid came pouring out of his mouth, his eyes closed and he felt himself starting to grow weak. If he could somehow move… but he couldn't… there was no escape. He was dying.
Duo watched in fascination as the man crumpled to the ground when Heero pulled out the sword. Heero turned his face towards Duo and had a smile on his lips. "What just happened?" Duo asked when he finally got over the shock.
Heero sighed and looked up to the sky. "I'll explain it to you someday. But right now I think we need to get back to reality." He frowned as he took in the surroundings once again. "What's happened here?"
Smiling Duo walked over and grabbed a hold of Heero's hand. "Not sure… but something tells me we don't need this place anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I think its dying, because we no longer have a use for it." Duo replied looking happily at the confused blue eyes.
"We don't need it anymore… I guess we don't." His arms wrapped lightly around Duo and he nuzzled his head in Duo's chestnut hair. "Because we have each other now."
Smiling, Duo nodded, "Shall we go home?"
"Aa."
"I could really use some food… preferably blueberry pancakes."
"Hai Hai!"
*******
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heero woke up to an annoying buzzing sound. He groaned and opened his eyes only to shut them quickly because of the brightness of the lights. After a minute he was able to open them and take a look around. He laughed softly as he took in all the equipment around him… He seemed to be in the hospital way too much lately.
A soft moan brought his attention away from all the tubes and machines. Duo was on a chair next to the bed with his head bent to the side. ::Ow… that does not look comfortable:: Heero thought.
Duo slowly lifted his head and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. After yawning a couple of times he finally looked towards the figure on the bed expecting him to be fast asleep. Duo was not expecting to see cobalt eyes looking at him in amusement.
He stared in shock for a moment before finding his voice. "Heero! Your awake!" Tears spilled from his eyes once again as he ran towards the bed and wrapped his arms around Heero's neck. "Heero…"
"Baka… why are you crying?" Heero's hand came up to catch one of the tears.
"Heero… your awake… awake…" Duo's grip tightened on Heero's arms and he buried his face in the short haired boys this hospital gown.
Heero's heart fluttered when Duo embraced him. It hurt a little to see him cry, but he knew it was just because the braided boy had been so worried. Lifting his chin he looked into the violet pools spilling over with tears.
"Everything's alright now Duo… I wont leave you again." He leaned in and pressed his lips against Duo's cheek, tasting the salty tears. Violet eyes widened slightly and Heero was happy to note that he had stopped crying. He was scared for a minute when Duo just sat there staring at him mouth hanging open, but then he smiled, a smile Heero had missed a lot. This smile was filled with love, reserved only for him.
Duo leaned in till he was only a breath apart from Heero, "I missed you." He closed the distance and their lips met. Heero felt like he would burst with happiness, he had never before experienced something quite like this. Finally happy, he no longer hated himself. He had Duo now, and Duo needed him. He wanted this moment of perfect ness to last forever, unfortunately Duo's stomach disagreed.
Duo's stomach growled loudly and they both broke the kiss. Heero opened his eyes that he didn't realize he had closed and looked at a blushing Duo.
Scratching the back of his head Duo grinned sheepishly. "Heh… guess I'm a little hungry."
Chuckling, Heero smirked as he remembered the dream. "Guess we should go get some blueberry pancakes then."
Violet eyes widened once more. "So… that…that wasn't 'just' a dream after all!" He stood up still having a look of amazement on his face. "Hey… you still have to tell me who that one scary looking guy was!"
"Aa, I'll tell you if you go get me some food."
"Yes sir! One order of blueberry pancakes coming up." He mock saluted and spun around intending on walking out the door. Instead he found himself falling backwards onto the hospital bed. The short haired boy had his hand wrapped around Duo's waist and was pulling him into an embrace. Surprised, Duo opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by Heero's lips on his once again.
"You taste much better than blueberry pancakes." Heero teased, pulling away and letting the flustered Duo get back on his feet. Duo's face flushed red and he was looking at Heero in amazement.
"I didn't think you were the blushing type." Heero commented.
Growling, Duo slapped Heero on the arm softly. "And I never knew you to be so daring." He started to walk away for real this time. For some reason finally feeling safe leaving Heero, he knew Heero would be in his bed when he came back. "Be back soon!" He darted out of the room intending on keeping his promise to come back quickly.
Heero watched his love leave the room, the braid swinging back and forth. "I'll never leave you again, and hopefully I will never have to see you cry once more." Heero whispered to no one.
Finally after years of nightmares, Heero felt at peace. And he somehow knew that the nightmares were gone for good. As long as he was happy, as long as Duo was by his side… he felt they would never come back.
And they never did.
~Owari~
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WAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Hmm so what did you think?? PLEASE do tell! it's the end! Finally the end… and I told you this chapter was long!