The Final Duel (A Perfect Soldier....The Woman Without Tears) Written by: NDK and Shini-chan

Dorothy Catalonia stood silently at the window of the Fencing room. She had a familiar smirk upon her face as she remember a particular duel she had fought in that very spot a while back..It was perhaps more then just a 'duel' then......

Heero yuy walked along the empty halls in the school, passing by the Fencing room he had a sudden memory of the duel..that same duel that wasnt even a duel at all..it was a fight till the end. _______________________________________________________________

Heero walked pass the fencing room, shaking off the feeling then continuing down the hall. Walking past a new student as if he wasnt even there. He continued walking down the hall till he turned the corner entering a smaller room, he closed his eyes, thinking of nothing more then the mission.

Dorothy walked forward stopping at the door and watches him dissapear around the corner .....then closes her eyes and chuckles quietly to herself as she leans back against the frame of the doorway.

He kept his eyes closed silently leaning against the wall of the room,clutching his fists tightly together..'why didnt I kill her when I had the chance'...he asked himself mentally trying to straighten his thoughts together again..

"Hmph..". She opens her eyes, gazing out the far window with a small smirk. "Why didn't he kill me then...?" She asked herself quietly......

He keeps his eyes closed silently a small smirk spreading across his face as he crosses his arms..softly chuckling to himself mentally.. 'why didnt I kill her..right when I had the chance..hn..'...He finally shakes his head and walks out of the hall,walking through the long empty hall once again..

Though she could hear his footsteps drawing ever near in the empty halls, her gaze remained towards the window across the room. A Casual smirk was set on her face, her thoughts elsewhere.... "Hmmph....a fool..." She stated quietly closing her eyes briefly and moving away from the door, making her way through the shadows of the dark room to the window. "Indeed......"

He continued down the empty hall, as if hearing Dorothys laughter echoing through the halls again he continued on anyways, his eyes narrowing again..the same familiar feeling comming back to him again..he closed his eyes silently feeling the stillness of the halls of everything around him...

She stopped silently at the window, though her foot steps echoed a bit longer in the still room. She had not forgotten thoes empty eyes that could never be filled...and the feeling of an endless void of empty emotion in his words.

He continued down the hallway..the laughter still echoing off the walls falling back to him..there was nothing left for him she was right about that but still the feeling of hate..or was it hate..or was it just the feeling..a need to kill..the feeling where it peirces through your soul..your very main existance in life..

"Your a fool Heero...A True soldier..." She whispered in the void of darkness, though her words seemed to carry on forever. "..But..why is it you fight?.....or do you even posess an answer...?"

His eyes fall shut as he closes out his main humanity..the little bit of mere human that was left of him...all his life had been nothing but a mission to kill..to own no feelings of his own..no simple normal life as you may call it...his soul gone..every last scrap of it left behind in a time long long ago..so long ago that he doesnt even remember that time..only another far away memory lost with the other ones...

"..Hmmph....such an answer is ment to be left to the mute.." She turns swiftly, making her way to the wooden rack of foils. She runs her slim fingers along the smooth wood stopping at a particular foil. A new smirk shows upon her face as she takes it delicately from the rack. A flicker of bright silver flame glides down the metal as it catches the light from the window...

He stops at the fencing room again seeing the foils light reflect against the window his eyes narrowing once again seeing Dorothy..as if she was expecting him herself..was she not waiting for him right then?...a small smirk came over his face as he entered the room, knowing somehow that she knew he was there..his footsteps echoing through the room of darkness..a hollowness deep inside.

Her gaze remained upon the metallic foil...she knew he was there though it didnt matter. Slowly she turned the foil delicately, the same glistening light shooting through the room like a hot bullet through silk....

He closed his eyes silently..the room falling into the wave of darkness around him..but he didnt care..all he could see was Dorothy in his mind the rest of his thoughts everything gone..there was nothing to feel as he slowly entered the room, his eyes shooting open only to see dorothy right in front of him again..his eyes narrowed back at her..staring back at the foil reflecting the light off the window..

"...You you remember our last Meeting Heero...Have you come to kill me now....?" Though keeping her gaze on the foil..a sly, dream-like look seemed to appear upon her dimly lit face. ".... Such a delicate weapon this is....."

His eyes stayed close..finding no need to open them when he could see her right in front of him..twirling the foil in her hand reflecting off its delicate light on the window......her words trailed right through him as if he was lost in another world where he may never return..only the mission and of pain and death in his mind....

"Hmph..." A soft chuckle escapes her lips. "You havent changed...your still the same emotionless person, cold and empty...Though somehow, you dont seem as hollow. You have a role to play in this war now dont you..." Her expression remained the same however..her words seemingly dissapear into the shadows.

He keeps his eyes glared back at her a small smirk comming across his face.. "So do you Miss Dorothy.." He says the void of darkness swallowing him whole, but still, all he could see was Dorothy..out in the darkness..grinning to herself with the foil in her hand twisting it around carefully...yet all he felt was the need to kill her..nothing more..nothing less..

She closes her eyes and noded slyly. "Indeed I do Heero...but what would happen if my part isnt played...? Will history end up with a missing piece?..or will nothing change....?"

The smirk spread across his face as he softly chuckles to himeself..the only thing he could hear in the darkness the chaotic laughter echoing through the room around him followed by his laughter..had he finally lost it? Lost his sanity along with everything else he had already lost when all he could hear was the laughter..as it grew steadily louder and louder..echoing in his ears within the void of darkness echoing in his mind..her words peircing through his heart..if he had a heart that is...

She glanced at him, her eyes a clear blue, like a smudgeless glass...an amuzed smirk upon her dimly lit face "...You have won many battles Heero Yuy...Though one seems to ellude you doesnt it? That battle which rages on in that empty heart of yours. Like a burning fire that does not die...It screams the dark questions in which you cannot answer..yet you laugh at such a flame..?" Her expression remained amuzed..what was he thinking...? What did he want to accomplish...?

The laughter continued to echo through his brain..you are nothing... -theres nothing left for you...nothing......He finally falls to his knees as if he just couldnt take it anymore. His eyes shoot open, a rage deep inside of them, a wild rage like one of an animals...and he charges at her.....like a wild bull or animal charging at its victim, grabbing a foil off the rack in a blind moment, swipping the blade at her. Not caring if it hit her or not, his only intention to kill her... Finally in a blind anger he forced the silver point into her shoulder blade, his eyes narrowing at her as if trying to keep a demon force inside of himself.

A painful shock shoots through her shoulder as the foil goes straight through her, its icy metal burned...She slowly releases the foil her slim fingers had touched many times...the sound of the cold metal clashing against the hard floor echoed through the dark room.....followed by an eerie silence....a drowning silence that would break a man. Her glassey eyes remained starring forward at nothing, a blank void....Though somehow, deep inside her, she knew that was comming.......She let out a quiet, painful, shakey groan...that in which shatterd that blank silence like a rock through a window...Something shimmerd in the pale light.. a trickle of deep red.. "...W-why...?" She whispered shakily. "...Why...am I...just another civilian for you..t-to kill...for your own pleasure......?"

He pulls out the blade point, letting it dangle from his finger tips..feeling her blood slide down the side of the fine delicate weapon...He closed his eyes and dropped it. A loud clash onto the floor....The blood from the weapon seeping through his fingers..He stared at his hand for a moment..the dark red blood stained through his hand. He clutched his hand into a fist, his eyebrow twitching slightly..feeling hot steamy tears form in his eyes, fogging his vision. He closes them again then opens them...in shock, he brings his shakey hand to his eyes then whipes away the cold stain of emotion with his blood stained hand.....closing his eyes again feeling the silver tear drops fall down his face...he was not a soldier..not a soldier at all..just a lost boy..nothing more..a soldier wouldnt show any emotion or heart..like the perfect soldier he was..the real him what was lost of him concealed off by a mask..a mask that could never show the true him........

She droped weakly to her knees, her glass eyes still starring blankly into the shadows. Shock had finnaly sunk in..she felt weak, light headed, as though she could collapse at any second. Shakily she raised her hand placing it over the wound, the red continued to trickle staining her hand..but she didnt care..it hurt, a new kind of pain. Though it wasnt the wound that hurt most... her mind was racing...what just happened? Why didnt you move? Questions screamed endlessly echoing through her brain...Another wave of silence smotherd the room, the only sound was the droplets of blood splashing against the cold floor....cold....dark...empty.....A shakey sigh escaped her lips. ".....W-w..what...are..y-you....?" Her words echoed once again, shattering the silence, not daring to look up at him. She once again had been defeated with her own choice of weapon...that delicate blade of silver....He wasnt human.....No word could truley describe him.Yet still still asked that elluding question. "....What are you.....?" Her words still a whisper...though harsher then before.

He then turns away from her in anger, feeling the cool hot tears streaming down his cheeks..he didnt even know what he was..a perfect soldier...a lost boy...lost from the world of emptyness and hate...what was he...? what was he really....? A fallen warrior..no..he was not human..no human could withstand the pain he had been through...then what was he..? He sunk down to his knees, burrowing his face in his hands, silently crying the cold, hot tears..the tears of all the people he had killed..of everyone he had harmed or brought suffering to, those tears mixed with the bitter-sweet taste of blood on his hands..he was nothing...he had no reason no purpose in living in life...only a tool who sold away his humanity..nothing more..a mass murderer....only capable of distruction..nothing else..there was nothing else to him then that. He stared down at his hands again almost disbelievingly..staring at the blood stained hands, the tears still streaming down his face silently.. like a lost child....

She blinked once...shaking herself from an empty void within her mind...with her sudden awakening back to realitly, the pain in her shoulder shot through her like a burning flame. She clentched her shoulder, gritting her teeth....such pain.. but why?...Why? That question danced on and on in her mind...never to be answered...but the room didnt seem silent somehow..was someone crying? Was she crying? no... She felt no warm tears upon her cheek..but who was? She couldnt wash away the pain, couldnt toss it away. The shimmering dark red blood fell, splashing red ruby beads across the cold floor...thats what she felt...cold. She finnaly lifted her heavy head and gazed hazily ahead of her...But she no longer saw a soldier...not an empty shell of a man...but a boy.. "D-dont... c-cry....t-the strong dont...c..cry.." She mumbled shakily. "...A demon..resides in you h-Heero...dont l-let it..consume you-u any f- further.." She shut her hazy crystal eyes tightly, trying to fight back the pain. She had lost the battle again...she could not win....He was strong..stronger then anyone. "Dont be af-fraid Heero....just keep fighting." She was rapidly loosing her own battle..weaker and weaker...her consiousness gliding into a dark corner, but she had to stay awake..

Yes, thats all he could do in life was keep fighting..his main way of existance depended upon it..there was nothing left for him except to fight...he was the perfect soldier..trained with no emotions no heart no soul..nothing..thats all he was..so he had to keep fighting..for the colonies..for himself, for what was left of his shredded soul...thats all he could do..He slowly brought his hands to his face whiping the tears away once again..the tears of weakness.. of pain..emotion..maybe he wasnt as empty as he thought..maybe there was hope.. 'Hope.' Another mere word told to people who wish to believe but never can..the tears continued to fall from his eyes but he made no sound.....no sobbing sound, only the silent tears fell from his face falling onto the ground along with the dripping blood...the silence filling the room once more...filling every hole, every corner with its empty depth of dispair..the feeling you get when you cant go on any longer..the pain deep inside yourself that cuts inside of you like a knife cutting through your heart......the pain that fills Heero every day of his dying existance..yes, he was already dead..there was nothing left to kill inside of him, nothing.. that was already dead from the pain deep inside...so he had to continue fighting...to continue living...

She stared back down at the cold floor with hazy, tired eyes. A sly smile made its way across her pale features through the pain. She watched the red ruby puddle infront of her gradually grow.... "Now...that youve..uhn.." She squinted..just breathing in hurt now.. "Now that youve...felt what you did....do you regret it...?" A soft, weak chuckle escaped her lips. "Dont let my possision fool you Heero....I yet...h-have a part to play. ..But I have one more question for you... She looked up at him, a new flame burning in her glass colored eyes...a seemingly strange flame.. "......Who are you really?" Once again her whispered words seemed to carry on within the dark empty room....

He turned around and looked back at her...but not with anger this time not with regret...nothing.. "Who am I...?" He said in an icy whisper, but not to Dorothy, more like to himself... "Who..am...I? He says, pronouncing each word carefully..but no words came out..only a cold sound that can barely be understood as a word...who am I...who really was he..he repeated it again and again, silently to himself as if the answer the question would just come to him..but really, he didnt even know the answer...all his life he was brought up to do nothing but kill..be a perfect soldier nothing more....... He stared silently down at his blood stained hand, whiping away the tears again, glaring down at them as if they were the cause of this all...what was he?...who was he?...He was not a soldier..not a boy..was he really even human..he didnt even know..then he mummbeld to himself, not really directing the answer back to Dorothy, but more like just to break the silence... "I am....nothing...nothing..nothing...I....have no need to live...for nothing..." He drops to the cold floor his eyes staring blankly, down at the floor..feeling nothing..as if he wasnt really even there at all only a mirror image..

"....You are.... indeed s-something Heero...." A familiar smirk forms upon her face as she shakely pulls her bloodstained hand from her wound, examining it closely. "...Your...the only one to beat me you know....Theres ..hope for you yet in is world." She glances up at him, with a sly smile. "If that heart of yours is as empty as you think...Then why am I still alive?" Ruby droplets splash to the floor from her hand. "..How?...How did you defeat me?...Ive never lost to anyone other then you...You truely...are...something Heero, but what you are..has yet to be discovered." Shifting her gaze to glance away from him, she spots the stained foil that had defeated her..that same silver point. Such a delicate thing..beautiful...She tried sitting up, only to feel another burning pain shoot through her again. "..I-I never truely thought..that such a slender thing could defeat me.. She whispered shakily..glareing coldly at the foil. "...but its not the blade that decides.. is it?"

He lays on his stomach, his eyes still staring blankly ahead of him as if the words went right through him, but yet..it only seemed to fit..yes..he was a soldier..thats all he was..nothing more..he glanced back up at her, his eyes staring through her in an almost creepy way..the way you get when you feel chills run down your spine..his eyes still empty voids of nothing......staring blankly unblinkinly back at her. "Thats all I am...a weapon used for war..." He said his voice shakey and almost as if it wasnt his own. His eyes sourounded in the emptyness..the emptyness that consumed him whole...consumed his soul..the coldness within them shattered..nothing left withen him..nothing nothing at all..nothing nothing at all... "Thats all I am....Thats all.." He murmered softly to himself....He stood shakily to his feet, his eyes covered in the darkness..a small smirk on his face.. "Thats all...." He says in a distant far away voice again to himself.

She manages a soft chuckle, echoing through the void of darkness. An eerie chuckle...So.. A tool of war....but what would happen to him if the war ended.....? Only he could tell...She chuckled once more before he too faded into the dark shadows..His footsteps growing ever fainter....a perfect soldier...a Tool....for War. "......Indeed Heero....hmmph....Indeed......"

.................