Yes you guessed it. I don't own Gundam Wing. Orany Gundam for that matter.
Wow you're good.
====================================
It was a very quiet funeral, only a few close friends they all decided it was better. They wanted all of Duo's feats to be recognized, that couldn't be done in a public service. Duo would have been disapointed. He would have wanted a big funeral, lots of mourners, closing of all businesses. Well there was crying, all the pilots were there. Relena had taken the day off from her schedule. Even she had appeared to pay her respects. There was a closed casket, the explosion had damaged too much of the body so all that was being lowered into the grave was the few charred remains of a once human. When the priest finally finished a few still lingered, watching the casket be lowered into the ground. Among them was the four remaining pilots and Relena.
"I'm sorry Heero, about Duo."
"Don't be. Duo will be fine."
"But Heero, he's dead."
"All lies."
"Heero!"
Heero didn't say another word, he turned away from Relena and the others, walking off through the cemetary. It was Quatre who approached Relena, resting his hand on the woman's shoulder. "He's taking this harder then any of us. We should leave him alone."
Relena nodded, she smiled one of those sad smiles as if recalling a memory. "Duo saved my life once. When I first met Heero, he pointed a gun at me. He never would have shot me but, Duo tried to help. I got angry at him for that."
Quatre nodded in understanding. "He changed our lives."
Wufei scoffed. "He was an idiot, he shouldn't have gone in there alone in the first place."
Trowa intervened. "He was trying to help."
"Any fool would have known it was a trap."
"Wufei. No one could have known."
"People die in war Quatre. No tears would be shed if he had died in battle."
"This isn't war Wufei."
"Not according to what I've seen."
"You're wrong Wufei, we all would have cried just the same."
**************************
Evan grinned "Todays the lucky day."
Duo rolled his eyes. "I think you and I have different Ideas about what luck is."
They were interupted when the lights in the room seemed to get brighter. Everyone seemed to be scrambling to put their various games and meals away. Duo soon figured out why when a few well armored men marched into the area. They were dressed in black, helmets and what looked like bullet proof vests, although the braided boy couldn't figure out why as nobody seemed to carry any guns here. In a nutshell they looked a lot like 6 members of a 20th century American SWAT Team with big sticks.
Duo watched as some cells were opened, some closed to await their match. It seemed they were attempting to make things as efficient as possible. These guys looked like pros, well he had taken down pros before, this was just one more prison and no prison could hold the self proclaimed Shinigami. These guards didn't seem to be taking any chances though.
It soon became clear that they were probably saving Duo for last. Others were paraded in, one would emerge walking, limping or bleeding while the other wouldn't emerge at all. He kept wondering what happened to the obvious loser, why he wasn't being carried out, but something told him he really didn't want to find out.
"Okay pilot, your up next."
The bars went offline first, of course Duo couldn't tell whether they were on or off, just that when they unlocked the door, they wern't surprised by 20 volts of electricity running through their bodies. It was the sticks he was most aware of, this was due to the fact that they held it as some sort of protection. They were like black bats, nothing more but like the prison bars Duo suspected that there was a lot more to them. He'd have to watch out for that. At least he knew they wouldn't hurt their prize fighter, at least not untill he entered the ring, stadium, or wherever he was supposed to fight.
Duo let them lead him out a good distance until he was clear of his own cell. It was then that he started faking that he was choking. They didn't buy it and Duo was rewarded with the knowlege that the bats could deliver a very forceful shock, about the same amount as the cell doors. Aware that Plan A had failed Duo moved imediatly to Plan B. He kicked the legs out beneath one of the guards and started running. He was proud about one thing, he could run fast. He easily outran the guards whose pads and armor actually made him slower, he even got to the door. Duo grinned, saluting his goodbye and grabbing the door. Big Mistake. He was instantly aware that 50 volts jolted through his system, holding him to the door, causing him to scream before he was finally able to let go and collapse in a heap. These guys sure liked electricity.
They dragged him back, not waiting for him to recover before they threw him into the arena. It was an arena, a very large arena. The walls were high and smooth, obviously to prevent escape. Various obsticles cluttered the sand on the ground, large rock structures, nooks, crannys, ditches. There were even weapons, which Duo studied carefully. Knives, daggers, blades, a Katana, a club and a scythe blade. These people had obviously done there homework. There were no guns, probably due to the range and ease of the weapon, they wanted him to duke it out. It was the loud speaker voice that got Duo's attention and he looked up, finally aware of the crownd. There was a crowd, hundreds of people had showed up to see a duel to the death.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The infamous pilot of the colonies. The devistating reaper who decimated the colonies! Terror of the stars! The ravager of women!"
Duo couldn't believe it, the guy was telling lies. He was making him out to be some kind of villain. The announcer didn't seem to care, he continued. "The deadly Gundam Pilot of 02, Devistating Deathscythe Hell!!!"
The entire crowd cheered and Duo was instantly pushed into the spotlight. They were madening, chantings, cheers, taunts, boos. It all came together in one big noise. The announcer wasn't finished yet.
"And his opponent. Winner of Six Deathmatch Championships, Quick on his feet and deadly with his blows. Death to all his enimies fall. Our hero, our defender. The one, the only, Danger Ranger!"
Duo stared, trying to get a view of his opponent, which was difficulti considering it was a dimmed room and the arena was 100 feet long. Still, Duo's good vision made out the features of the youthful image of his opponent, holding a sword. It was Evan.
"Evan?"
The Ranger smiled and he began to approach the pilot. "Hello Deathscythe. We're in the arena so you better play along, call me by my battle name."
"I'm not going to fight you Evan. I don't kill anymore!"
"There's not any choice. This is our life now."
"It doesn't have to be!"
"I'm not going back to prison."
Then, Evan attacked. Duo made a quick lucky move and ducked out of the way, rolling across the sand. Evan took the Scythe blade off the rack and tossed it to Duo. "Come on Deathscythe, you have to fight."
Duo let the scythe fall where it landed. "No!"
"You can't just avoid it. Eventually one of us is going to die by the other's hand. I'd much rather have it go down in a fight. I thought this would be more of a challenge."
He brought his sword down again, Duo rolled a second time. Evan smiled, bringing his sword in a slashing motion down to Duo's neck. Duo reacted by throwing a handful of sand into his opponent's eyes, blinding the man. Evan squinted, covering his eyes and trying to clear his vision. When he finally could see again, Duo was gone. Evan looked around, checking to see if he hadn't missed anything, finally satisfied the braided boy was nowhere near, he decided to call him out.
"Come on Deathscythe. You can't hide forever, sooner or later we are going to fight. Just think of this as another war, you've killed people before, it's time to do it again."
Duo glanced briefly back at Evan, he was still looking for Duo. That didn't make the pilot feel any better, he knew the artificial rock face wouldn't hide him very long. He had to find a way out, the others thought he was dead, There would be no help from Heero this time, he had to escape on his own. He quickly searched the arena, locating the highest obsticle. Duo took three deep breaths then ran at full sprint towards his target. Evan caught sight of him halfway there and gave chase, but Duo was faster and by the time Evan reached him he had already started climbing the rocks, running to get a good speed. He jumped, it was probably the highest he had ever jumped before, but he still fell short and went sliding down the metal face of the arena wall. When he touched the ground Duo came centemeters withen reach of a blade that threatened to take his ear off. Evan had picked up an axe.
Duo turned to face his opponent just as he raised the axe to take another blow. Reflexes took over and Duo grabbed the first weapon he could get his hands on. He picked up two blades that bore a remarkable resemblence to Sandrock's weapon of choice. He crossed the blades, holding them firm and blocking the attack. Still, Duo knew the blades would not withstand a body to body battle of force. A moment of quick thinking caused Duo to dodge to the side, avoiding the axe and the recoil, free of the trap. Evan tossed the axe away, instead grabbing two hatchets and advancing on Duo. His blades hacked away while Duo continued to back up, still on the defense, holding the blades firm as his life depended on it.
Evan seemed to be enjoying it. "This is a little better now Deathscythe. But you should fight back."
Duo didn't reply, diverting most of his concentration to staying alive. Evan finally decided to stop hitting the blades with the hatchets and instead went for Duo's legs. Duo blocked with one of the blades and Evan went to the upper body with Duo blocking again. Head, neck, abdomin, Evan went for every oppening and Duo was trying with all his effort to keep up, knowing if he missed blocking he would die. Apparently this single thought had distracted him too much because instantly he became aware of a stinging pain at his side. Evan had managed to cut him. Everything started going downhill then, Duo had lost concentration and Evan was taking full advantage of the situation. As Duo tried to block again and again he suceeded few times, only managing to divert the critical blows. This time the cut was across the cheek, nearly missing his eye. Evan took this opportunity to toss the hatchets behind him and once again pick up his sword which he used to knock Duo down with the broadside of it, striking at his gut with full force and knocking the air out of the pilot. Evan raised his sword, poised to strike as he stood over Duo, the champion, ready to drive the sword down like a stake.
Duo was breathing heavily, the crowd was cheering, cheering for him to die, getting high off this Death to Death battle like a drug. Duo just stared at the blade, then the face of it's weilder. So this was how it was going to end. Duo Maxwell dead at 18. No! He wasn't going to die this way. It wasn't over yet. He had to live, if only for one more day. He wouldn't go down, not like this. Ignoring his pain Duo began to reach, feeling around in the sand for something, anything that would get Evan off him. His luck payed off when his hand grasped a smooth wooden pole. If he used just enough force, he could knock Evan away, but he'd have to be ready to roll, he was right under the blade. Now or never. Duo gripped the pole and swung it with all the force he could muster and then moved to the side as fast as he could. He was actually surprised when he found Evan had not been knocked over as Duo had assumed he would be. In fact he was still holding the sword and the pole was still standing but Duo wasn't holding it. It took him only a moment to realize what had happened. The pole he grabbed, had a blade on the end, it had gone straight through Evan's midsection and he was being propped up by the blade, the scythe blade Evan had thrown to Duo earlier. It was still cutting through until the spine seperated and Evan, the sword, and the Scythe blade fell in the sand. Duo had done what he had refused to do the entire battle, he had killed Evan.
His face turned a ghost shade of pale as the sudden realization hit him. The blood staining the sand, the bone protruding through the gash. Mobile suits never looked like this when they were destroyed. "Oh god! Evan!
The braided pilot crawled on hands and knees to the fallen warrior, turning him over on his back, the shock of the blow frozen on his face like a still frame. Water fell onto the dead eyes and Duo became aware of the tears he was shedding. He couldn't have done this, not something this violent. "Oh god Evan! Please forgive me! Please no."
He didn't notice the guards come in, approaching the two. He only became aware of them when the body of Even was pulled away and they dragged the body across the sand.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
They didn't say a word as two guards pulled back a trap door under the sand, Duo could hear the hungry roars even if he couldn't see withen. A sudden realization came to the boy and he finally knew the reason why the losers were never brought out. They were dinner.
"Stop!" Duo began to run, determined that Evan should not be just disposed of. "You can't!"
He found himself unable to make it as he was hit by one of the batons again, then grabbed by the two other guards. Duo could only scream protests as they threw Evan down into the pit, slamming the door closed.
Wow you're good.
====================================
It was a very quiet funeral, only a few close friends they all decided it was better. They wanted all of Duo's feats to be recognized, that couldn't be done in a public service. Duo would have been disapointed. He would have wanted a big funeral, lots of mourners, closing of all businesses. Well there was crying, all the pilots were there. Relena had taken the day off from her schedule. Even she had appeared to pay her respects. There was a closed casket, the explosion had damaged too much of the body so all that was being lowered into the grave was the few charred remains of a once human. When the priest finally finished a few still lingered, watching the casket be lowered into the ground. Among them was the four remaining pilots and Relena.
"I'm sorry Heero, about Duo."
"Don't be. Duo will be fine."
"But Heero, he's dead."
"All lies."
"Heero!"
Heero didn't say another word, he turned away from Relena and the others, walking off through the cemetary. It was Quatre who approached Relena, resting his hand on the woman's shoulder. "He's taking this harder then any of us. We should leave him alone."
Relena nodded, she smiled one of those sad smiles as if recalling a memory. "Duo saved my life once. When I first met Heero, he pointed a gun at me. He never would have shot me but, Duo tried to help. I got angry at him for that."
Quatre nodded in understanding. "He changed our lives."
Wufei scoffed. "He was an idiot, he shouldn't have gone in there alone in the first place."
Trowa intervened. "He was trying to help."
"Any fool would have known it was a trap."
"Wufei. No one could have known."
"People die in war Quatre. No tears would be shed if he had died in battle."
"This isn't war Wufei."
"Not according to what I've seen."
"You're wrong Wufei, we all would have cried just the same."
**************************
Evan grinned "Todays the lucky day."
Duo rolled his eyes. "I think you and I have different Ideas about what luck is."
They were interupted when the lights in the room seemed to get brighter. Everyone seemed to be scrambling to put their various games and meals away. Duo soon figured out why when a few well armored men marched into the area. They were dressed in black, helmets and what looked like bullet proof vests, although the braided boy couldn't figure out why as nobody seemed to carry any guns here. In a nutshell they looked a lot like 6 members of a 20th century American SWAT Team with big sticks.
Duo watched as some cells were opened, some closed to await their match. It seemed they were attempting to make things as efficient as possible. These guys looked like pros, well he had taken down pros before, this was just one more prison and no prison could hold the self proclaimed Shinigami. These guards didn't seem to be taking any chances though.
It soon became clear that they were probably saving Duo for last. Others were paraded in, one would emerge walking, limping or bleeding while the other wouldn't emerge at all. He kept wondering what happened to the obvious loser, why he wasn't being carried out, but something told him he really didn't want to find out.
"Okay pilot, your up next."
The bars went offline first, of course Duo couldn't tell whether they were on or off, just that when they unlocked the door, they wern't surprised by 20 volts of electricity running through their bodies. It was the sticks he was most aware of, this was due to the fact that they held it as some sort of protection. They were like black bats, nothing more but like the prison bars Duo suspected that there was a lot more to them. He'd have to watch out for that. At least he knew they wouldn't hurt their prize fighter, at least not untill he entered the ring, stadium, or wherever he was supposed to fight.
Duo let them lead him out a good distance until he was clear of his own cell. It was then that he started faking that he was choking. They didn't buy it and Duo was rewarded with the knowlege that the bats could deliver a very forceful shock, about the same amount as the cell doors. Aware that Plan A had failed Duo moved imediatly to Plan B. He kicked the legs out beneath one of the guards and started running. He was proud about one thing, he could run fast. He easily outran the guards whose pads and armor actually made him slower, he even got to the door. Duo grinned, saluting his goodbye and grabbing the door. Big Mistake. He was instantly aware that 50 volts jolted through his system, holding him to the door, causing him to scream before he was finally able to let go and collapse in a heap. These guys sure liked electricity.
They dragged him back, not waiting for him to recover before they threw him into the arena. It was an arena, a very large arena. The walls were high and smooth, obviously to prevent escape. Various obsticles cluttered the sand on the ground, large rock structures, nooks, crannys, ditches. There were even weapons, which Duo studied carefully. Knives, daggers, blades, a Katana, a club and a scythe blade. These people had obviously done there homework. There were no guns, probably due to the range and ease of the weapon, they wanted him to duke it out. It was the loud speaker voice that got Duo's attention and he looked up, finally aware of the crownd. There was a crowd, hundreds of people had showed up to see a duel to the death.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The infamous pilot of the colonies. The devistating reaper who decimated the colonies! Terror of the stars! The ravager of women!"
Duo couldn't believe it, the guy was telling lies. He was making him out to be some kind of villain. The announcer didn't seem to care, he continued. "The deadly Gundam Pilot of 02, Devistating Deathscythe Hell!!!"
The entire crowd cheered and Duo was instantly pushed into the spotlight. They were madening, chantings, cheers, taunts, boos. It all came together in one big noise. The announcer wasn't finished yet.
"And his opponent. Winner of Six Deathmatch Championships, Quick on his feet and deadly with his blows. Death to all his enimies fall. Our hero, our defender. The one, the only, Danger Ranger!"
Duo stared, trying to get a view of his opponent, which was difficulti considering it was a dimmed room and the arena was 100 feet long. Still, Duo's good vision made out the features of the youthful image of his opponent, holding a sword. It was Evan.
"Evan?"
The Ranger smiled and he began to approach the pilot. "Hello Deathscythe. We're in the arena so you better play along, call me by my battle name."
"I'm not going to fight you Evan. I don't kill anymore!"
"There's not any choice. This is our life now."
"It doesn't have to be!"
"I'm not going back to prison."
Then, Evan attacked. Duo made a quick lucky move and ducked out of the way, rolling across the sand. Evan took the Scythe blade off the rack and tossed it to Duo. "Come on Deathscythe, you have to fight."
Duo let the scythe fall where it landed. "No!"
"You can't just avoid it. Eventually one of us is going to die by the other's hand. I'd much rather have it go down in a fight. I thought this would be more of a challenge."
He brought his sword down again, Duo rolled a second time. Evan smiled, bringing his sword in a slashing motion down to Duo's neck. Duo reacted by throwing a handful of sand into his opponent's eyes, blinding the man. Evan squinted, covering his eyes and trying to clear his vision. When he finally could see again, Duo was gone. Evan looked around, checking to see if he hadn't missed anything, finally satisfied the braided boy was nowhere near, he decided to call him out.
"Come on Deathscythe. You can't hide forever, sooner or later we are going to fight. Just think of this as another war, you've killed people before, it's time to do it again."
Duo glanced briefly back at Evan, he was still looking for Duo. That didn't make the pilot feel any better, he knew the artificial rock face wouldn't hide him very long. He had to find a way out, the others thought he was dead, There would be no help from Heero this time, he had to escape on his own. He quickly searched the arena, locating the highest obsticle. Duo took three deep breaths then ran at full sprint towards his target. Evan caught sight of him halfway there and gave chase, but Duo was faster and by the time Evan reached him he had already started climbing the rocks, running to get a good speed. He jumped, it was probably the highest he had ever jumped before, but he still fell short and went sliding down the metal face of the arena wall. When he touched the ground Duo came centemeters withen reach of a blade that threatened to take his ear off. Evan had picked up an axe.
Duo turned to face his opponent just as he raised the axe to take another blow. Reflexes took over and Duo grabbed the first weapon he could get his hands on. He picked up two blades that bore a remarkable resemblence to Sandrock's weapon of choice. He crossed the blades, holding them firm and blocking the attack. Still, Duo knew the blades would not withstand a body to body battle of force. A moment of quick thinking caused Duo to dodge to the side, avoiding the axe and the recoil, free of the trap. Evan tossed the axe away, instead grabbing two hatchets and advancing on Duo. His blades hacked away while Duo continued to back up, still on the defense, holding the blades firm as his life depended on it.
Evan seemed to be enjoying it. "This is a little better now Deathscythe. But you should fight back."
Duo didn't reply, diverting most of his concentration to staying alive. Evan finally decided to stop hitting the blades with the hatchets and instead went for Duo's legs. Duo blocked with one of the blades and Evan went to the upper body with Duo blocking again. Head, neck, abdomin, Evan went for every oppening and Duo was trying with all his effort to keep up, knowing if he missed blocking he would die. Apparently this single thought had distracted him too much because instantly he became aware of a stinging pain at his side. Evan had managed to cut him. Everything started going downhill then, Duo had lost concentration and Evan was taking full advantage of the situation. As Duo tried to block again and again he suceeded few times, only managing to divert the critical blows. This time the cut was across the cheek, nearly missing his eye. Evan took this opportunity to toss the hatchets behind him and once again pick up his sword which he used to knock Duo down with the broadside of it, striking at his gut with full force and knocking the air out of the pilot. Evan raised his sword, poised to strike as he stood over Duo, the champion, ready to drive the sword down like a stake.
Duo was breathing heavily, the crowd was cheering, cheering for him to die, getting high off this Death to Death battle like a drug. Duo just stared at the blade, then the face of it's weilder. So this was how it was going to end. Duo Maxwell dead at 18. No! He wasn't going to die this way. It wasn't over yet. He had to live, if only for one more day. He wouldn't go down, not like this. Ignoring his pain Duo began to reach, feeling around in the sand for something, anything that would get Evan off him. His luck payed off when his hand grasped a smooth wooden pole. If he used just enough force, he could knock Evan away, but he'd have to be ready to roll, he was right under the blade. Now or never. Duo gripped the pole and swung it with all the force he could muster and then moved to the side as fast as he could. He was actually surprised when he found Evan had not been knocked over as Duo had assumed he would be. In fact he was still holding the sword and the pole was still standing but Duo wasn't holding it. It took him only a moment to realize what had happened. The pole he grabbed, had a blade on the end, it had gone straight through Evan's midsection and he was being propped up by the blade, the scythe blade Evan had thrown to Duo earlier. It was still cutting through until the spine seperated and Evan, the sword, and the Scythe blade fell in the sand. Duo had done what he had refused to do the entire battle, he had killed Evan.
His face turned a ghost shade of pale as the sudden realization hit him. The blood staining the sand, the bone protruding through the gash. Mobile suits never looked like this when they were destroyed. "Oh god! Evan!
The braided pilot crawled on hands and knees to the fallen warrior, turning him over on his back, the shock of the blow frozen on his face like a still frame. Water fell onto the dead eyes and Duo became aware of the tears he was shedding. He couldn't have done this, not something this violent. "Oh god Evan! Please forgive me! Please no."
He didn't notice the guards come in, approaching the two. He only became aware of them when the body of Even was pulled away and they dragged the body across the sand.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
They didn't say a word as two guards pulled back a trap door under the sand, Duo could hear the hungry roars even if he couldn't see withen. A sudden realization came to the boy and he finally knew the reason why the losers were never brought out. They were dinner.
"Stop!" Duo began to run, determined that Evan should not be just disposed of. "You can't!"
He found himself unable to make it as he was hit by one of the batons again, then grabbed by the two other guards. Duo could only scream protests as they threw Evan down into the pit, slamming the door closed.
