Standard disclaimers apply—none of this belongs to me, except for the plot and idea. All characters, except for ones of my own creation, belong to the wonderful and life-saving people who created the show.
Warnings—Swearing, AU, some OOC, homosexuality, supernatural elements
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"The Magic is in me—the Magic is in me. It's in every one of us."
The Secret Garden; Frances Hodgson Burnett
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The city that's born of nerve and steam,
The city that queens the inland sea,
Lay under the sky with a flash and a gleam—
A something wonderful fair to see;
And guests come in by lake and stream
To see another Midsummer Dream.
Colours flashed in the glowing light,
And colour ran on each brilliant street,
And music thrilled through each beaming night
And lightened the fall of ten thousand feet;
And voices ran in a flood-tide strong
That sounded afar like a charmed song.
The hill was proud of the light-lit bay,
And the bay was proud of the lordly hill,
And both were proud of the town that lay
Locked in their embrace fond and still;
And Venice was never as fair as she,
That glowed on the shores of the summer sea.
Her sons come home from far-off lands,
And, beaming, looked on her splendid face;
She welcomed them back as she took their hands
With a mother's love and queenly grace
They felt as they saw her beauty there
None other was half so fond and fair.
—The Khan
A poetic tribute to Hamilton, circa 1890
Falling Into Hell
Part II
Written by Azreal (Blight)
horde_king@yahoo.ca
OR
pippin_elf@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/horde_king/index.html
The night was cool, serene, and dark. The moon hung in the sky like a glass ball, as bats flittered across it on silent wings, their nightly hunt for insects renewed after a long day of sleep. A large, dark house sat atop a great hill, surrounded on three sides by oak trees, large pines, and maples. A large pond guarded the East side of the property, a tiny boathouse in the middle of it. The grass on the hill rippled in the wind, and the branches of the trees swayed gently.
Sitting atop the house, rump resting rather uncomfortably against the hard tiles, Duo Maxwell stared at the diamond-covered canopy above him, eyes locked on the moon. His face was pulled taut in a frown, violet eyes narrowed, bangs hanging in his face. He was dressed in loose-fitting, fuzzy black pajamas that were so old they looked almost gray. An equally worn bathrobe was wrapped around his shoulders, and his feet, tucked in, were bare. He leaned back on his hands, head craned back. His half-braided hair fell over one shoulder, the loose strands falling down his chest to brush against the tiled roof.
"Well old pal, I guess it's time for another talk," he whispered, watching the moon. "What brought me out tonight wasn't the normal stuff. You know, Wufei screaming about injustice and accusing me of dishonouring him, Trowa not talking to me because of that comment on having an affair with his lions, Heero bitching at me about eating too much junk food or the 'Omae o korosu' bit. That hasn't bugged me for a while. I think I've become immune to it." He chuckled wryly. "Tonight's insomnia attack is due to the nightmare I had, Mr. Moon." He let out a deep, weary sigh as he began to tell the silent globe of the nightmare he had had, looking at his hands, which twiddled with his braid.
"It was fucking scary, buddy. Granted, being a terrorist means nightmares come with the package, but this had nothing to do with the war. It was so real…but how could it have been? That's never happened to me, as far as I know. Unless I've suffered some sort of trauma which brought on a bout of Alzheimer's, or the world fell through some whacked-out rip in the dimensional fabric of the universe, I don't think that ever happened." He looked back up at the moon, as though waiting for an answer. He smirked. "I guess you don't have any answers for me, either." He sighed. "I guess that's to be expected. After all, you're just a really big hunk of rock formed by dust particles over a million years ago." He blinked at himself. "I think…"
Abruptly, there was a thumping and scuffling behind him, and Duo spun around to see two hands clawing at the edge of the roof. He leaped to his feet when he heard a small voice yelp. "AH!!" There was more scuffling, and then a blonde head appeared over the side, eyes wide. "Duo, help me!"
The braided boy stared for a moment, then chuckled as he moved to help the other boy up onto the roof, grabbing his hands and hauling him unceremoniously up to join him. As the blonde panted, Duo shook his head, smirking. "Quatre, how long were you listening to me?"
Quatre looked up at his friend, a small frown on his face. "Long enough to know that talking to the moon isn't going to help you figure out what your dream meant," he replied, standing up straight and looking at the braided boy carefully. The blonde Arabian was about the same size as Duo, if not a little bit smaller. His aquamarine eyes carefully scanned his friend, sunlight blonde hair falling into his pale face. He was dressed in a pair of light pink and white, two-piece pajamas, the shirt buttoned up and the pants held up by a string. He frowned. "I know you haven't been sleeping well lately, Duo. If you were having nightmares, why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
The braided boy frowned, turning and walking back to where he had been sitting before, his black bathrobe flying out behind him. He sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees, the deep frown still on his face. Quatre joined him, the two sitting in silence for a moment before Duo spoke.
"If I had told you, you probably would have told the others," he replied, shaking his head. "I don't need Wufei going off on another tirade about how weak I am, or Heero flipping out because if he knows I haven't been sleeping, it will affect my performance as a Gundam pilot." He made a face. "Then again, being the 'Perfect Soldier,' he probably already knows my sleeping habits have been way off lately."
Quatre chuckled. "Heero does have a way of finding things like that out," he said, rolling his eyes. "Trowa is the same way. I don't know how he does it, but he always knows when I'm tempted to break Wufei's nose when he's being an insensitive prick. He also knows when Wufei and Heero are in a bad mood, and he gets me out of there in time to save my skin."
Duo snickered, covering his mouth and laughing as quietly as he could so as not to wake the others. "Trowa," he giggled. "Has a way with animals!" Quatre threw back his head and laughed, also covering his mouth.
"Indeed," the blonde giggled.
"What's so funny?" a calm voice, tinged with amusement, asked from behind them. Both boys turned to see a tall boy with brown hair and green eyes, dressed only in a pair of white slacks and housecoat, standing behind them. His hair fell over one eye, effectively hiding it, but they sparkled with amusement. Apparently, he had had no trouble accessing the roof, whereas Quatre had nearly fallen and broken his neck. Quatre laughed quietly.
"Trowa!" the blonde exclaimed, pleased to see the other boy. "What are you doing up here? I thought you were sleeping." Trowa raised an eyebrow.
"I woke when you tried to climb out the window," he replied, smirking at the memory of seeing two of Quatre's legs flailing wildly just outside the window, bare feet kicking helplessly as he fought to gain access to the roof.
Duo and Quatre looked at each other, suddenly remembering what they had been talking about only moments ago. They both broke into gales of laughter.
"What's so funny?" Trowa repeated, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at both boys with a tint of amusement in his features.
"We were just talking…" Quatre began, giggling.
"About things," Duo finished, giving Quatre an amused, secretive look. "Nothing important, really. You wouldn't be interested." The blonde snickered as the taller boy came to sit beside him.
"Oh really?" Trowa asked, leaning back on his palms and watching the other two boys, his eyes glittering in the moonlight. "Well?" he prompted, knowing that one of the two boys would tell him. Duo snickered, and nodded.
"Yeah, you know," he said, his smile widening. "You have a way with animals, and we were just talking about Wufei…"
"That it was funny you appeared," Quatre chimed in, and the two boys went off on another round of giggling. Trowa shook his head, his face betraying his amusement.
"Wufei does have an animalistic way about him," the taller of the three boys commented, which caused Duo and Quatre to break out in loud laughter once more. Abruptly, a loud voice roared up at them from within the house.
"Would you BE SILENT!!! SOME of us NEED to sleep!!!"
Duo crawled over to the edge of the house and leaned over the side to the window below. An angry Chinese boy with jet back hair that fell, loosely, down to his shoulders was glaring up at him, dark eyes smoldering. He wore only a pair of black sweatpants, shirtless, and his hands were on the windowsill, tightly clenched. Duo grinned and waved, his braid falling over the side, dangling just in front of the other boy's face.
"Yo, Wufei!" the braided boy shouted, waving. "It's funny that you decided to speak up. We were just talking about you!" He grinned as Quatre made his way over, both of their heads hanging over the side to see Wufei. The blonde smiled and waved at the irate Chinese boy.
"INJUSTICE!!!! Maxwell, you will be silent or I will punish you!!!" Quatre laughed as Duo rolled his eyes, the two of them laughing at Wufei's rage.
"In the name of the moon?" Trowa suddenly asked. Duo and Quatre whipped around to stare at the taller boy, jaws agape. They started laughing as Wufei let out an outraged screeched.
"BARTON!!!!!"
Duo's eyes suddenly widened as Wufei disappeared, returning with a sword in hand. He began to climb out the window as both Quatre and Duo leaped back.
"Trowa!" Quatre shouted, eyes wide. "Wufei's coming and he's got his sword!!! Run!!" Trowa only raised an eyebrow, a large smile on his face. Duo squeaked as he backed away from the edge of the roof, Wufei's hands scrambling to get a hold while clutching his sword at the same time. After a moment, his head appeared and he glared at Trowa.
"Barton," he ground out, pulling himself up. "You will pay for that remark. You have dishonoured me!" Trowa got to his feet, watching Wufei carefully though he was now grinning like a fool.
"Trowa," Duo hissed, backing slowly away from the Chinese boy who was stomping towards the tall, uni-banged pilot of Heavyarms. "I think you should run. NOW!!"
Wufei turned and pointed his sword at Duo. "You be silent, cur!" he shouted. "You're next!!" Duo 'meeped' and backed away, holding his hands up defensively. Quatre watched them all nervously, afraid that someone was really going to get hurt. Wufei's eyes blazed as he stalked toward Trowa, who watched him calmly.
Abruptly, the sound of a gun's safety button clicking off came to everyone's ears. They turned, and they saw Heero standing on the other side of the roof, a gun pointed at Wufei. "Omae o korosu," he began, watching Wufei intently, "if you touch Barton." Unlike the other boys, Heero was dressed in his customary black spandex shorts and green tank top. Duo often wondered if the Japanese boy slept at all.
Wufei growled. "They will not let me sleep! And HE," he pointed at Trowa, "has insulted my honour!!" Heero only raised an eyebrow.
"Not from what I heard," he commented dryly, his nasal voice having a touch of amusement in it though his face remained blank. Wufei growled and opened his mouth to say something when Quatre shouted suddenly. Everyone looked at him.
His eyes wide, the blonde pointed out towards the pond. "Look!" he hissed, awe, fear and astonishment in his voice. The others did as told, and their eyes widened.
"What the hell?!" Duo sputtered out.
The pond, which moments before had been clear, was now enveloped in a thick, gray mist. It swept across the property like a wall, the trees and forest that stood in its way vanishing as it passed, heading right for the house.
A strong wind came from nowhere, blowing the boy's hair around and causing them to struggle to stay upright. Quatre cried out as he was nearly thrown off the roof, but Trowa was suddenly there, holding him steady. Duo joined the two, holding on to Quatre and Trowa both, his violet eyes wide with fear. Wufei snarled and ran to the three boys who were huddled together. Lifting his chin high, he held his sword up in a defensive way, trying to protect them. Heero was at his side in an instant, his eyes narrowed as he watched the fog come rushing towards them like a freight train.
"Omae o korosu," Heero growled at the fog. Wufei stared at him.
"HOW do you suppose to accomplish THAT!?"
Abruptly, the sky darkened. All five boys look up to see dark, heavy clouds descending from the sky, hiding the moon from view and causing the world to plunge into darkness. Lightning flashed violently above them as thunder rumbled and cracked. The wind that had nearly caused the boys to be thrown grew more violent with each second passing. It ripped Duo's hair from the half-braid it was in, causing it to be whipped about his face and behind him like a cloud. The rest of the boys' hair and clothes were billowing back and behind them.
The house trembled from the sudden tremors that caused the earth it was perched on to split, orange light erupting from within the new crevices as smoke and ash coursed up and into the raging sky. Trees split in half and fell into the glowing fissures in the ground as the wind forced the smoke into the faces of the boys, threatening to either choke them or blow them away. The house began to shake violently in time with the earth, and the five pilots found themselves losing the battle to stay on the roof and keep their balance.
They each fell to their sides, rolling across the roof as the gusts of wind pushed them violently away from each other. Quatre screamed in terror as he struggled to grasp the scratchy tiles and keep himself away from the edge. Trowa's eyes were wide as he valiantly fought his way towards the blonde, the wind shoving him back as much space as he gained. Wufei was trying to get to his feet, only to be thrown down again, his voice filled with fear and anger as he screamed. Heero was on his belly, moving slowly towards the others, his jaw set in a determined jut. Duo lay on his back, unmoving, his expressive violet eyes staring at the sky in shock, terror, and astonishment.
He watched in morbid fascination as the lightning above him seemed to be in a great battle, forks of it clashing together as thunder roared, flashes of light ripping the sky apart. The screams of his friends were drowned out by the thunder, which threatened to blast the braided boy's eardrums. He wondered dazedly if what was happening really was real.
Quatre screamed again, a shrill sound that brought Duo out of his stupor. He rolled onto his stomach to face his friends, and saw something which horrified him more than the dream he had had earlier.
The roof was splitting in half along with the house.
The large crack separated him from the others, and it was his name that Quatre had screamed into the roaring wind. As the earth reared up, he found himself being carried with it, and the house collapsing back and towards the ground. He glanced behind him to see a very large, very hot looking hole in the ground, where the earth had split. Slowly, as though he was dreaming, he looked back at his friends. He found himself unable to utter sound as he saw his friend's horrified faces leave his line of sight, and he fell towards the burning fire of death. The last thing he heard was Heero, his voice filled with pure terror.
"DUO!!!! NO!!!!"
Dazedly, he wondered why Heero sounded so frightened. He was the 'Perfect Soldier', after all…why would he be worried about him?
Then everything went dark.
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When Duo unwillingly followed the northern side of the house into the fissures in the earth, Heero Yuy's heart skipped several beats before speeding up to a wild run. Blood roared in his ears as his heart furiously pumped it through his veins, his adrenaline higher than it had ever been. His muscles tensed as tight as a bowstring and he barely realized that he was running towards the edge of the roof. A thick fog had settled over his mind, and the only thing he could see before him was Duo's face, expressive violet eyes wide with terror and confusion as he fell away from them and into the flames.
Heero didn't acknowledge Quatre's cries for him to stop, nor did he hear Wufei screaming at him to come back. The only thing in Heero Yuy's mind was Duo Maxwell and his frightened eyes, silently begging Heero to help him. There was nothing else—the braided baka and only the braided baka. He stopped at the edge of what was left of the building, staring down into the abyss of fire and smoke. His eyes widened.
Where the ground had split, Heero had expected to see perhaps lava, or flames, or other such horrors that come with earthquakes. Instead, all he saw was a cloud of dense smoke, pitch black in colour and ominous. Lightning and electrical sparks flashed and cracked within the cloud, lighting it up and then casting it into darkness once again, only to be lit up once more in a continuous dance of light and dark. The smoke swirled and twisted like a huge snake, crackling viciously as Heero watched, cobalt eyes wide. Abruptly, they narrowed, and his jaw stuck out in determination.
Duo was in there. Heero would get him out, whether he was dead or alive.
'Mission accepted,' Heero thought as he hurled himself forward and into the air. His already messy chocolate brown hair blew away from his face as he leaped into the dense smoke and fog that surrounded what was left of the house, hands outstretched as though he was reaching for something that he couldn't quite get. He closed his eyes against the scene before him as he plummeted into hell, two violet eyes smiling at him on the canopy of his eyelids.
"HEERO!!!" Quatre screamed, horrified as he watched the Japanese boy throw himself over the side, following their braided friend. "NO!!!" The blonde leaped to his feet, tearing free of Trowa's grip as he rushed forward. 'I can't let this happen!!!' he thought, tears running freely down his cheeks as he closed distance on the flashing lights and smoke. The wind knocked him to his knees, and he began to scramble forward instead, hands clawing at the broken tiles of the roof, his breath coming in hitching sobs. Reaching the edge, he had a similar reaction to Heero's as he saw the crackling smog beneath him.
Had the situation had any sense of normality to it, the boy knew that no one could have survived the fall. Yet, he still felt his friends. The terror coming from Duo, as well as agonizing pain, nearly caused Quatre to pass out. Heero was frightened, but instead of pain, Quatre only felt a great loneliness coming from the usually stoic boy. The feelings coming from there were muted, as though they were behind a thick wall, but the fact that he could still feel them gave him hope, however small it was. They were down there somewhere, alive, and Quatre wanted them out. Never had he wanted something so badly—it threatened to rip him apart from the inside. He knew if he didn't do something, quickly, he would lose them forever.
'Never,' he thought, clenching his fists. Anger welled up within him, and he spat viciously to the side as his shirt and pants billowed in the wind. 'I will not lose them!!'
Clutching his heart against the fear and pain he felt coming from the two missing boys, Quatre Winner threw his own fear to the roaring wind. Ripping his pajama shirt off, he let out a blood-curdling scream of rage, his tears being carried away in the wind as he threw back his head.
"YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!!!" he screamed at the sky, stepping off the roof and into space, eyes blazing with fury as he felt his friends falling away from him, farther into the darkness.
'Heero, Duo…don't leave me behind,' he thought as he threw himself forward, following the other two boys into the pits.
Trowa and Wufei watched as Quatre screamed at the sky and then leaped off the roof, following their friends. The two boys looked at each other, grim determination clouding their features as they realized they couldn't let the other three go alone. Obviously, from Quatre's outburst, the other two were still alive, which meant that the blonde was going to try to save them.
"This is an injustice!!!" Wufei hissed beneath his breath, his fist tightening on the hilt of the sword he still carried. He squinted his eyes, staring at his shaking hands. Despite threatening to kill the braided pilot, Wufei respected his fighting skills and ability to survive. Also, the Chinese pilot couldn't help but enjoy the Deathscythe pilot's company. "I cannot allow this to happen," he whispered. Dark eyes blazing, he snapped his head around to look at Trowa, who was watching him with an equally angry glare.
"Quatre," Trowa whispered, eyes narrowing.
"Heero," Wufei added, nodding.
They paused.
"Duo."
The last two pilots nodded curtly to each other. Then they turned and ran, bare feet thumping against the tiles of the roof as the house began to tremble violently. The wind ripped at their clothes as they threw themselves after their friends, falling into hell.
To be continued…