* * * * * *
"Qautre, down!" Heero yelled as he turned around firing two shots exactly where Qaure's head had been a second ago. The OZ soldier fell to the ground, his eyes still as defiant as ever.
The two boys continued running down the hallways, taking the turns that they had memorized over and over again on their way to the base. Qautre ran behind Heero, both of them checking each other's backs and gunning down any soldier they came in contact with. Their mission was complete. They had sent out the information to the laptop at home and Duo had used the hacker skills he had been taught to outrun the virus. Now, it was a simple matter of getting to their gundams and getting out.
Heero grabbed onto the right corner of the doorway that led to the last corridor to the exit facing the Sandrock and Wing Zero. As he flung himself in that direction, he came face to face with about ten gun toting soldiers. Suddenly, a small metallic ping was heard before Qautre reached around and covered Heero's eyes with a pair of sunglasses. The portable specially made flare lit the entire area in a blinding white light. The two gundam pilots new it was their cue and dodged the blinded men and made it out the final door into the crisp pine scent of the woods surrounding the base.
"Remind me to thank Duo for letting me borrow that." Quatre shouted to Heero as they ran through the tall trees. They resembled ancient Greek creatures, with the moonlight streaming through the pine needles, falling across their features as they sprinted with almost animal grace.
The rumble of the ground beneath their feet almost threw them off balance, but before the next shot was fired, they had made it to their mobile suits. Heero quickly threw of the net that was hiding both gundams as Qautre lept right into the cockpit of his Sandrock. Within a few minutes, both gundams were up and running toward the battle where they could see it was not going well.
* * * * * *
The Shenlong flew in and around the enemy suits. With a flick of a joystick, the dragon took off the heads of half a dozen suits surrounding Wufei. Then, he aimed at the largest group of OZ fighters and turned his dragon's fire on high. He had to repress one of Heero's maniacal laughter fits after seeing everything he could burn to a cinder with the barest motion.
"They've made it safely inside the complex."
Wufei nodded at the image of Trowa on the screen. At first, they're part in the mission was to create havoc and distractions, now, they had to keep the enemy from discovering the other two gundams, or their pilots.
The Heavyarms came running up alongside the fast gundam and began to do his own damage. Saving his melee attack in case of an emergency later on, he brought his gattling gun up to position. A few rounds to that suits chest, a few to that one's head. 'Hey, where'd all these guys come from!' Trowa thought as he turned around, his gundam's alarms going off. Before he even had a chance to fully turn his gundam around, the Leo behind him slashed at him with the beam sword it was carrying. Seeing the tip of his gattling gun fall smoldering to the pine covered ground, Trowa realized that this was not going to be an easy fight.
Wufei's double blade cut a Leo in half and his gundam had moved onto the next even before it exploded. He cut off the arm of the next one in his path, before decapitating it. Behind it, through an orange haze was an entire line of troops. 'Oh, this is bad, we need Qautre and Heero out here fast. This is no where close to a fair fight, me and Trowa are going to be killed if we don't get some help.' Dodging to the side, the Shenlong delivered a fatal gouge through the chest of an oncoming Leo.
Meanwhile, Heavyarms' chest had flipped open to reaveal a whole new set of guns. Trowa was a little upset that he'd had to get rid of his favorite weapon so early in the battle because it had been melted off. So, as any good gundam pilot would have done, he took out his anger on every mobile suit that came his way. Firing with the most deadly accuracy he could, suits began to fall in waves in front of all the bullets he was laying down in front of them. The waves that fell, were all too quickly replaced by new suits. One particular Leo was intelligent enough to realize that a one on one battle with 03 was going to leave them all dead. He used his suit to pick up a fellow Leo, and placed it in front of him to use as a shield. The Leo made a last desperate charge at the gundam, firing with every last peice of his being.
Wufei gritted his teeth as another shot hit home. The Shenlong was flung back and almost lost it's balance. Turning his boosters on high, his gundam rocketed forward, and the pilot didn't even seem to notice the trickle of blood falling down his face from the last hit he had taken. Slicing through yet another line of persistent mobile suits, Wufei caught sight of a white suit on the ground. Through all the smoke of the battle, he couldn't tell which gundam it was. Leaving the fallen corpses of the metal soldiers, he ran to find out which suit had fallen. Upon seeing the state the Heavyarms was in, Wufei couldn't figure out why it wasn't still up and firing.
"Hey Trowa, get up, now! We have a situation here." Static was all that followed.
"Trowa, come on, answer, move, do something." Wufei began to feel the dread that he knew came with premonitions as he reached over with the Shenlong and began to pick up the motionless gundam. 'He better not be dead.' Wufei mentally threatened his partner.
'Huh, what, what happened?' Trowa wondered as he sat up in his restraints. Looking around, he saw nothing but darkness. 'Oh crap.' He frantically began to push every button, and pull every lever in his gundam's cockpit, but nothing moved. 'It's just like last time, that last hit must have knocked my new system offline. The Heavyarms wasn't ready to come into battle today, I knew I should have taken more time to repair it.' A blast from outside his mobile suit stopped any ideas Trowa was having about making a run from his crippled Heavyarms.
* * * * *
"Heero, watch your back!" Qautre yelled over the comlink as his heat shotels took care of the Leo's trying to sneak up on a pre-occupied Zero.
Zero wasn't taking any chances, his buster rifle was out and he was aiming for any group he deamed large enough for the attack. Slowly, Heero was making a path for he and the Sandrock to take to get in contact with the others and get out. 'I wonder why Trowa isn't answering, and Wufei doesn't seem to be making much sense.'
Sandrock ran to the side of Wing Zero and sliced a Leo in half, through it's head and chest. Then, he turned around with the speed he had acquired from numerous battles and cut down the three suits behind he and Heero with a half moon swipe from each side. Qautre had time to cross the shotels over, leaving him standing in his usual battle position at the backs of the suits that were about to blow up.
"Quatre, come quick, Heavyarms is down."
Qautre grabbed the controls for his thrusters and took off, following Zero, which had now become it's bird jet self. As soon as the two reached the clearing where Trowa's suit was on the ground, they were both relieved. Standing over it, guarding it from the onslaught of Leos was the Shenlong. It paused just long enough in it's flame throwing to let the other two gundams to get close.
"Heero, Wufei, keep me safe." Quatre smiled at them over their screens as he slipped on the headphones he used when they needed to communicate outside their gundams. The cockpit opened and was immediately filled by black smoke. Quatre held back a cough and jumped down onto his gundam's leg, and then to each platform he could get to until he had reached the Heavyarm's chest.
"Trowa, open up!'
Nothing happened and it occured to Qautre that he might be dead already.
"Trowa if you're okay in there please, say something!"
"Qautre...the system's down, I can't even get the cockpit open!"
Qautre sighed, immensely relieved that his best friend lived. Now the only problem was getting him out of the gundam.
"Qautre, if you guys can get me somewhere safe, someone outside can use the emergency latch to blow off the door."
Qautre pulled his ear away from the cold metal and pressed the button on his headphones. "Guys, we need to get the Heavyarms somewhere safe, out best bet would be to take him to the safehouse so we can get him out of there."
"Right Qautre. Heero, the Wing Zero can fly the fastest and carry the most weight. You've carried the Heavyarms before, you'll have to do it again." Wufei yelled even as he slashed through another pair of Leos who had gotten too close for their own good.
"Roger that." With one quick movement, Zero was standing between the Sandrock and Heavyarms. It's huge hand bent down, landing beside Quatre. Realizing a free ride when he saw one, he climbed into the hand and held on tight. Heero carefully manauvered his gundam to place the small passenger at his cockpit once again. Then, he transformed into Wing's bird mode. The Sandrock, which was once again operational helped to hook the still mobile suit onto the hovering one.
"Okay, you're set to go Heero."
"Good luck you two, me and Qautre will guard your escape."
"Thanks. Don't worry, I'll take care of Trowa."
The gundams flew off, heading toward the safehouse at top speed, leaving the metallic carnage of the battlefield behind you. With his usual stony expression, Heero could think only one thing. 'I'm coming back Duo.'
* * * * *
"Go faster kid!" Solo yelled as he tore his shirt over his head, as fast as he could as he ran down the hall.
"Shut up, I'm going as fast as I can!" Duo yelled back, as he hopped on one foot, his pants halfway pulled off.
Solo and Duo ran into the bathroom and Solo quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Duo consciously began to hunch over in pain, so Solo wouldn't see him ogling at his incredibly nice body. 'Wow, he did not look that good last time I saw him without a shirt. Hoo buddy!'
'Ha, he's trying not to stare at me. How cute.' Solo grinned as he kicked his pants off, aiming perfectly and burst out laughing when they landed on the already occupied Duo's head.
"AHH!"
"Hahaha. Calm down there shorty, their just a pair of pants. You really shou-ah!" Before he could finish tormenting Duo, Solo fell to his knees, still wearing his blue boxers that he hadn't had a chance to take off. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything other than the extreme pain in his back. Looking up, he could tell that Duo was in the same situation he was. The skin of their backs was being pulled straight up, by the things emerging from beneath. Stretching out as far as he could, Duo tried every position, trying to make the experience more comfortable, but it was all in vain. They began to pant as blood flowed down in droplets to the tile floor. 'At least it'll be easy to wash up.'
"Ahhh." Solo moaned in pain as he doubled over even more, till his head was resting on the floor. Duo couldn't help but let his jaw hang open as he heard Solo's groan...he could see them, the bloody bulges coming through his torn skin. 'I will not hurl. I will not hurl. I will not hurl. I've seen plenty of blood and gore in the war, this is nothing.'
Just then, Solo's back decided to split all the way to his knees, making a sound like that of tearing a wet paper towel. Duo stuck his head in the toilet and dry heaved, being thankful that they'd been in the bathroom to begin with. Then, he felt someone's hands rubbing his sides gently, avoiding the gash of where his wings were coming out, and reminding him of when he was a kid, always having someone there to take care of him. When it registered that the hands belonged to Solo though, Duo felt even sicker, and not the pleasant nauseous kind that goes away when you throw up. He threw himself back into the doubled over position on the cold tile, which had his and Solo's blood smeared over it. Solo tried to inch closer, sliding on the life he had spilled on the floor, but stopped when Duo tried to move away from him, but the pain kept him frozen to the spot. Slowly, both pairs of wings continued their struggle to emerge. Then, with a sickening jolt, the tips of both wing bones cleared the edge of the gash. The pain was gone in an instant, left with a strange dull ache as the skin healed itself.
Duo tried to catch the breath he had stopped taking when the pain of the end of the experience had gotten too much for him. He raised his eyes to see Solo already standing. On his back, reaching a full two feet above him and dragging the tips on the floor, were Solo's wings. Right now, he resembled a fallen angel motife. Blood covered all but a few select places. These which had been spared from the scarlet flood were a pale white. The feathers clung to each other, weighed down by the immense amount of blood. Solo's hair, also streaked red, along with the blood streaks on his bare chest gave him a very intimidating look. He looked like he'd just killed everything near him, without regretting a minute of it.
Duo, still a little shaky, stood up. Slowly, he began to flex the muscles which now had room to move, outside of his constrained back. He looked up and noticed that the 'elbow' of his wing was about half a foot shorter than Solo's. Both their wings matched each other perfectly. A long bone which was connected to their spine stretched out from their back. Then, another bone connected to the first in a joint that pointed toward their bodies and ended about a foot above each boy's head. Then, a long, light and easily moved bone stretched to the floor. Duo's wings were covered in a thin, skin- like black covering. Solo, on the other hand, had white feathers, which, at this time, were stained in splotches of crimson. He too flexed his muscles, spreading his wings as far as he could in the small bathroom.
Glancing into the mirror, Duo realized just how much blood he had gotten on himself. He would have a much easier time though, cleaning off the skin of his wings, opposed to the feathers of Solo. Grinning at his angel look alike counterpart, and, in a perfectly clear, unwavering sarcastic voice, Duo said, "You know, this is all your fault."
///////////////////////////////////Duo////////////////////////////////////
"Solo, please, please open your eyes." I can feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. I look down at Solo. I don't understand it, he has the antidote, I gave it to him, why isn't he getting better. He lays perfectly still, his skin is pale and his body shudders with each breath. His eyes open and are hazy, with a far-away look to them as he stares at me. He opens his pale, dry lips, saying, "Boy's don't cry Ciaran. You know that. I'm not worth cryin for anyways."
I wipe my sleeves across my eyes to get rid of the traitorous drops. "You are worth it, you're worth anything Solo. You're my best friend. Please, please don't die. Ya can't leave me here alone."
"We're best friends kid. I'll never leave you. I promise, I'll always be with you." The next breath he tries to take seems to get caught in his throat, like he's choking on something. "Solo. Solo?" His eyes don't even seem human anymore, they're lifeless, but his body keeps fighting to take a breath. I lean down towards him, placing my hands on his cheeks, trying to shake him into breathing. What's that weird sound? It's kind of like a gurgling noise.
I can feel my eyes widen as a small drop of blood is coughed up by Solo's body. It falls to the ground, along with a trail that's now flowing out of his mouth. I can't breath. I can't feel my body. He's choking on his own blood. He's dying the same way all the others did.
That's it. The body's stopped moving. No no no. Solo, you can't be dead. I lay down and curl my back against his stomach.
"Come on Solo, you can wake up. You're tougher then any of us were. You can do it. You're not dead." The cold body behind me, unmoving, is not reassuring my denial at all. I gently pull his stiff arms around me. It's just like you used to do for me on cold nights, right Solo. The hot tears are back again. I can't control them. He wouldn't want me to cry, I know he wouldn't, but I just can't stop. Why? Why did he have to die. I want him back. I'd do anything to get him back.
Slowly, my eyes close over the tears as I feel myself drifting into unconsciousness. The energy in my body leaves, as I fall asleep in the embrace of death.
My eyes shoot open. There is nothing but blackness all around me. Maybe my eyes aren't really open at all. This is a dream. I can hear something, what is that?
"You will always be together, you are two of a kind, one and the other, never will you be separated. You must be together, forever." The voice, wait, is it even a voice? It's a dream, I can't really tell if I'm hearing this or if I just know it. Either way, I know what the words are, even if I don't really hear them. "Together forever, Solo and Ciaran. Forever, Ciaran. Ciaran. Ciaran." Suddenly, the strange dream voice has turned into Solo's. Huh? Where is he, I can't see anything.
My eyes slowly open, and take in my surroundings. I'm in the alley. The alley where we lived, and where he died. It's dark, it must be night already. Then I realize that the corpse's arms have been removed from around me.
"Huh. That's weird. Who would take him away from me?"
"Hey shorty, you gonna wake up or am I gonna have to jump on ya like always?"
My heart beats a few times in those seconds of hearing that voice. It must have all been a dream, he's alive. The voice is coming from behind me. As a role over I yell out "Solo!" Then I stop. That's not him. It's not my Solo.
He stands there, looking sad, I've never seen him look sad before.
"Oh. I see. This is still a dream. So, guess that means you really did die like all the others. Oh well." I look past his face, he has wings. Big, white wings. All feathery and angel-like. They look like they're coming from his back. "Wow Solo. I never would have thought that you'd become an angel when you died. So, are you a guardian angel or something? Oh, or maybe you're a ghost here to haunt me!"
He looks at me like I've lost my mind. Yeah right, you're the one with wings buddy.
"I'm not dead Ciaran."
"No. Don't you say that name. You're not really him, you can't be. I don't wanna ever hear anyone say that name again." I can't help but think back to the day Solo found me on the street, and we picked out that name. He said that a person's name is one of the most important things about them, and he wanted it to be a special one. It was. At least to me.
"Listen Ciar-"
"No! I said not to call me that."
"Fine, well then what should I call ya then?" The angel-Solo looked frustrated with me. Ha. Sucks for him.
"Call me....uhh....ah, call me Duo." I smile at my ingenious new name. This way I'll always remember poor Solo.
"Fine, Duo then. I'm not dead. I'm right here. This is me, Solo, you're best friend."
"Yeah, whatever Solo-ghost. So why are you here? Are you gonna be my guardian angel? I could use one." The apparition takes a step back and his jaw hangs open a little. Then he smiles and laughs. Even if he isn't real, I still like the sound of his laugh.
"I'm no angel kid. Listen, I need you to accept that I'm real. We need to talk about a few things."
I can't help but give him a skeptical look. Come on, it's an image of my dead best friend with wings. But hey, I've always been an open minded street brat. "Sure. Start yer talkin."
"Okay, well, first off, you better look at yourself." He takes a step closer to me. I tense my body, just in case. He sees this and just smiles, after all, he's the one who taught me to do that when someone advanced at me. He reaches over my head and pulls on something. I can feel it. It's not my head, or my hair. And he's not reaching down far enough for it to be my back. But I can feel it being tugged on, like it's a part of me. He grabs onto my shoulder and turns me to face one of the broken down buildings on the side of the alley. There's a broken window, the glass still hanging in the bottom half. In it, I can see him with his white wings. And, to my surprise, I'm there too. And I have wings. Big, black wings. Oh no, I knew it, I died too. He became an angel and I got stuck being a devil. Wonderful.
"So how come you're an angel and I'm a demon. I don't get it."
"We're not angels or demons kid. Sure, we may have the wings, but they're nothing but new parts. Like an extra arm or leg. It doesn't mean we have any special powers or nothin like that."
"Okay, so we're not new creatures. Just got some new limbs."
"Exactly. When I died, something happened. I don't know what. But it seemed like I was dreaming, everything I could see was a shadow. Like there wasn't stuff there. Then, I just kinda understood what was goin on. You know, when you're in a dream and suddenly you understand what's happening. Even if no one's told you." I shake my head. I've had that happen in dreams before. Like when I'm running from something, but I don't know what it is, but I'm scared to death of it. It's like I know that it's gonna hurt me if it catches me.
"Well, I just suddenly knew. You and I are somehow connected. I don't know why, or who did it. But we have to be together. Neither of us can die. I couldn't die without you because we're connected. You followin?"
"I think so. But what do the wings have to do with anything?"
"It's the way of keeping us together. When we're separated, either too far away, by, say dying." He grins at me. I can't help it, I smile back. This dream is fun. It's nice, and I kind of like the ghost of my friend. "Anyway, also, if we're away from each other for too long a time, then we get these wing thingies comin out of our backs. You get it?"
"Yeah, I think so. So you're saying all this just came to you suddenly when you," I pause and fight down the sarcasm in my tone, "died?"
"Yep, can't say why. Or how. Or who. Come to think of it, I don't know much, except that it's really happening. So-" He stops suddenly. My eyes widen, something's wrong. He's bent over in pain. Then, I find myself staring at the ground. It's gotten suddenly closer. My back feels like it's on fire. I can feel my muscles on my back, some I never even knew I had, begin to move. My wings flap back and forth, powerfully. It hurts. It hurts so much. More than a knife cut even. I begin to scream. I want anything, a noise, a voice, something to take my thoughts off the pain. Then, a hand is clamped over my mouth. I look up, and relax as I realize it belongs to Solo.
"Hey kid, you wanna..." he stops and leans over as the pain surges in both of us and we can't focus on words anymore. "keep it quiet over there. We don't want anyone to come by and find us." He looks at me, his eyes wide with what I could only say was fear. The real Solo was never afraid. But now I realize, it's not fear, it's disgust. He looks like he hates the world. Like he hates himself. What's wrong with him.
I try to contain another shout of pain as it feels like a hundred knives are cutting up my back. I look down, and for some reason, it surprises me that there's blood dripping off of me. A puddle has formed beneath me and the make believe Solo. Ghosts don't bleed.
Finally, the pain stopped. As I opened the eyes I didn't realize I'd closed, I saw that there was no longer an angel-Solo. The feathery appendages were gone. Stretching my arms back as far as they would twist, I can tell that the devil wings I had seen in the glass are gone too. Replaced by blood. And the strange feeling that I should weigh more.
"Shh. It's okay now kid. The pain's gone." Strong arms wrap around me from behind and he nuzzles against my neck. It's comforting, even though it's coming from a dead man. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry Ci--." He pauses and I feel him tense with pain, and anger. "I'm sorry Duo. Now you should get some rest kid." Despite the fact that I struggle, he pulls me down to lay on my side on the cold ground. He arms close tighter, holding me close and warm. He's the only family I have. He's the closest to a family I have. Slowly, I can feel my eyes start to close. The chest behind me moves in and out quietly, warmly. So different from a corpse. I can feel myself falling asleep, and I can't help but hope that he really is alive, there, behind me.
My eyes open up. I'm cold. So very cold. The arms are gone. I look around. Solo, the body is gone. Maybe I dreamed it all. I must have. So much for ghosts. I walk down that alleyway, hoping my next life will be a happier one.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"What do you mean this is my fault! Are ya kiddin! This is way more your fault that mine!"
Honestly, Duo hadn't expected quite that much of a reaction. But he smirked and was happy, his new purpose in life was to bug his blonde counterpart. Putting his hands on his hips in his usual defiant position, Duo smirked even more, as much as he could. "Oh come on. I had nothing to do with all this. It all started with you. I was just an innocent bystander."
He would have continued, but he noticed that Solo's head was hanging. His entire body was very still, so tense that it almost shook. His wings were taught and pulled against him. Then, he looked up and charged at Duo. "Hey- " Duo tried to get his arms free, thinking that he'd finally pissed Solo off a little too much. 'He's gonna kill me. That's it, I'm done for.'
Solo released his hold on Duo's arms and then pulled him into a desperate hug. He pulled the smaller boy into him, folding him up in his arms, against his bare bloody chest. Duo was speechless. He had no clue how to react. He had been preparing for a fight, and was now being hugged as if he were the only thing that could save Solo now. His reactions took over and he leaned farther against him, enjoying the feeling of safety. Neither one knew nor cared how long they stood with each other. Finally, Solo's arms went slack and he took a few steps away. Duo looked up, and was relieved to see the usual, happy go lucky, non-homicidal Solo looking back.
Okay readers, I have to cut this chapter right there. Alas, Fanfiction.net will not allow NC-17, and I really don't want to butcher my fic, so if you want the next chapter, you have two choices. Email me at tmbrwolf113@adelphia.net and I'll send you the next chapter, or you can go to where I keep my fic on my homepage. Enjoy! http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/zero10/Pastbecomesyou.txt
"Qautre, down!" Heero yelled as he turned around firing two shots exactly where Qaure's head had been a second ago. The OZ soldier fell to the ground, his eyes still as defiant as ever.
The two boys continued running down the hallways, taking the turns that they had memorized over and over again on their way to the base. Qautre ran behind Heero, both of them checking each other's backs and gunning down any soldier they came in contact with. Their mission was complete. They had sent out the information to the laptop at home and Duo had used the hacker skills he had been taught to outrun the virus. Now, it was a simple matter of getting to their gundams and getting out.
Heero grabbed onto the right corner of the doorway that led to the last corridor to the exit facing the Sandrock and Wing Zero. As he flung himself in that direction, he came face to face with about ten gun toting soldiers. Suddenly, a small metallic ping was heard before Qautre reached around and covered Heero's eyes with a pair of sunglasses. The portable specially made flare lit the entire area in a blinding white light. The two gundam pilots new it was their cue and dodged the blinded men and made it out the final door into the crisp pine scent of the woods surrounding the base.
"Remind me to thank Duo for letting me borrow that." Quatre shouted to Heero as they ran through the tall trees. They resembled ancient Greek creatures, with the moonlight streaming through the pine needles, falling across their features as they sprinted with almost animal grace.
The rumble of the ground beneath their feet almost threw them off balance, but before the next shot was fired, they had made it to their mobile suits. Heero quickly threw of the net that was hiding both gundams as Qautre lept right into the cockpit of his Sandrock. Within a few minutes, both gundams were up and running toward the battle where they could see it was not going well.
* * * * * *
The Shenlong flew in and around the enemy suits. With a flick of a joystick, the dragon took off the heads of half a dozen suits surrounding Wufei. Then, he aimed at the largest group of OZ fighters and turned his dragon's fire on high. He had to repress one of Heero's maniacal laughter fits after seeing everything he could burn to a cinder with the barest motion.
"They've made it safely inside the complex."
Wufei nodded at the image of Trowa on the screen. At first, they're part in the mission was to create havoc and distractions, now, they had to keep the enemy from discovering the other two gundams, or their pilots.
The Heavyarms came running up alongside the fast gundam and began to do his own damage. Saving his melee attack in case of an emergency later on, he brought his gattling gun up to position. A few rounds to that suits chest, a few to that one's head. 'Hey, where'd all these guys come from!' Trowa thought as he turned around, his gundam's alarms going off. Before he even had a chance to fully turn his gundam around, the Leo behind him slashed at him with the beam sword it was carrying. Seeing the tip of his gattling gun fall smoldering to the pine covered ground, Trowa realized that this was not going to be an easy fight.
Wufei's double blade cut a Leo in half and his gundam had moved onto the next even before it exploded. He cut off the arm of the next one in his path, before decapitating it. Behind it, through an orange haze was an entire line of troops. 'Oh, this is bad, we need Qautre and Heero out here fast. This is no where close to a fair fight, me and Trowa are going to be killed if we don't get some help.' Dodging to the side, the Shenlong delivered a fatal gouge through the chest of an oncoming Leo.
Meanwhile, Heavyarms' chest had flipped open to reaveal a whole new set of guns. Trowa was a little upset that he'd had to get rid of his favorite weapon so early in the battle because it had been melted off. So, as any good gundam pilot would have done, he took out his anger on every mobile suit that came his way. Firing with the most deadly accuracy he could, suits began to fall in waves in front of all the bullets he was laying down in front of them. The waves that fell, were all too quickly replaced by new suits. One particular Leo was intelligent enough to realize that a one on one battle with 03 was going to leave them all dead. He used his suit to pick up a fellow Leo, and placed it in front of him to use as a shield. The Leo made a last desperate charge at the gundam, firing with every last peice of his being.
Wufei gritted his teeth as another shot hit home. The Shenlong was flung back and almost lost it's balance. Turning his boosters on high, his gundam rocketed forward, and the pilot didn't even seem to notice the trickle of blood falling down his face from the last hit he had taken. Slicing through yet another line of persistent mobile suits, Wufei caught sight of a white suit on the ground. Through all the smoke of the battle, he couldn't tell which gundam it was. Leaving the fallen corpses of the metal soldiers, he ran to find out which suit had fallen. Upon seeing the state the Heavyarms was in, Wufei couldn't figure out why it wasn't still up and firing.
"Hey Trowa, get up, now! We have a situation here." Static was all that followed.
"Trowa, come on, answer, move, do something." Wufei began to feel the dread that he knew came with premonitions as he reached over with the Shenlong and began to pick up the motionless gundam. 'He better not be dead.' Wufei mentally threatened his partner.
'Huh, what, what happened?' Trowa wondered as he sat up in his restraints. Looking around, he saw nothing but darkness. 'Oh crap.' He frantically began to push every button, and pull every lever in his gundam's cockpit, but nothing moved. 'It's just like last time, that last hit must have knocked my new system offline. The Heavyarms wasn't ready to come into battle today, I knew I should have taken more time to repair it.' A blast from outside his mobile suit stopped any ideas Trowa was having about making a run from his crippled Heavyarms.
* * * * *
"Heero, watch your back!" Qautre yelled over the comlink as his heat shotels took care of the Leo's trying to sneak up on a pre-occupied Zero.
Zero wasn't taking any chances, his buster rifle was out and he was aiming for any group he deamed large enough for the attack. Slowly, Heero was making a path for he and the Sandrock to take to get in contact with the others and get out. 'I wonder why Trowa isn't answering, and Wufei doesn't seem to be making much sense.'
Sandrock ran to the side of Wing Zero and sliced a Leo in half, through it's head and chest. Then, he turned around with the speed he had acquired from numerous battles and cut down the three suits behind he and Heero with a half moon swipe from each side. Qautre had time to cross the shotels over, leaving him standing in his usual battle position at the backs of the suits that were about to blow up.
"Quatre, come quick, Heavyarms is down."
Qautre grabbed the controls for his thrusters and took off, following Zero, which had now become it's bird jet self. As soon as the two reached the clearing where Trowa's suit was on the ground, they were both relieved. Standing over it, guarding it from the onslaught of Leos was the Shenlong. It paused just long enough in it's flame throwing to let the other two gundams to get close.
"Heero, Wufei, keep me safe." Quatre smiled at them over their screens as he slipped on the headphones he used when they needed to communicate outside their gundams. The cockpit opened and was immediately filled by black smoke. Quatre held back a cough and jumped down onto his gundam's leg, and then to each platform he could get to until he had reached the Heavyarm's chest.
"Trowa, open up!'
Nothing happened and it occured to Qautre that he might be dead already.
"Trowa if you're okay in there please, say something!"
"Qautre...the system's down, I can't even get the cockpit open!"
Qautre sighed, immensely relieved that his best friend lived. Now the only problem was getting him out of the gundam.
"Qautre, if you guys can get me somewhere safe, someone outside can use the emergency latch to blow off the door."
Qautre pulled his ear away from the cold metal and pressed the button on his headphones. "Guys, we need to get the Heavyarms somewhere safe, out best bet would be to take him to the safehouse so we can get him out of there."
"Right Qautre. Heero, the Wing Zero can fly the fastest and carry the most weight. You've carried the Heavyarms before, you'll have to do it again." Wufei yelled even as he slashed through another pair of Leos who had gotten too close for their own good.
"Roger that." With one quick movement, Zero was standing between the Sandrock and Heavyarms. It's huge hand bent down, landing beside Quatre. Realizing a free ride when he saw one, he climbed into the hand and held on tight. Heero carefully manauvered his gundam to place the small passenger at his cockpit once again. Then, he transformed into Wing's bird mode. The Sandrock, which was once again operational helped to hook the still mobile suit onto the hovering one.
"Okay, you're set to go Heero."
"Good luck you two, me and Qautre will guard your escape."
"Thanks. Don't worry, I'll take care of Trowa."
The gundams flew off, heading toward the safehouse at top speed, leaving the metallic carnage of the battlefield behind you. With his usual stony expression, Heero could think only one thing. 'I'm coming back Duo.'
* * * * *
"Go faster kid!" Solo yelled as he tore his shirt over his head, as fast as he could as he ran down the hall.
"Shut up, I'm going as fast as I can!" Duo yelled back, as he hopped on one foot, his pants halfway pulled off.
Solo and Duo ran into the bathroom and Solo quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Duo consciously began to hunch over in pain, so Solo wouldn't see him ogling at his incredibly nice body. 'Wow, he did not look that good last time I saw him without a shirt. Hoo buddy!'
'Ha, he's trying not to stare at me. How cute.' Solo grinned as he kicked his pants off, aiming perfectly and burst out laughing when they landed on the already occupied Duo's head.
"AHH!"
"Hahaha. Calm down there shorty, their just a pair of pants. You really shou-ah!" Before he could finish tormenting Duo, Solo fell to his knees, still wearing his blue boxers that he hadn't had a chance to take off. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything other than the extreme pain in his back. Looking up, he could tell that Duo was in the same situation he was. The skin of their backs was being pulled straight up, by the things emerging from beneath. Stretching out as far as he could, Duo tried every position, trying to make the experience more comfortable, but it was all in vain. They began to pant as blood flowed down in droplets to the tile floor. 'At least it'll be easy to wash up.'
"Ahhh." Solo moaned in pain as he doubled over even more, till his head was resting on the floor. Duo couldn't help but let his jaw hang open as he heard Solo's groan...he could see them, the bloody bulges coming through his torn skin. 'I will not hurl. I will not hurl. I will not hurl. I've seen plenty of blood and gore in the war, this is nothing.'
Just then, Solo's back decided to split all the way to his knees, making a sound like that of tearing a wet paper towel. Duo stuck his head in the toilet and dry heaved, being thankful that they'd been in the bathroom to begin with. Then, he felt someone's hands rubbing his sides gently, avoiding the gash of where his wings were coming out, and reminding him of when he was a kid, always having someone there to take care of him. When it registered that the hands belonged to Solo though, Duo felt even sicker, and not the pleasant nauseous kind that goes away when you throw up. He threw himself back into the doubled over position on the cold tile, which had his and Solo's blood smeared over it. Solo tried to inch closer, sliding on the life he had spilled on the floor, but stopped when Duo tried to move away from him, but the pain kept him frozen to the spot. Slowly, both pairs of wings continued their struggle to emerge. Then, with a sickening jolt, the tips of both wing bones cleared the edge of the gash. The pain was gone in an instant, left with a strange dull ache as the skin healed itself.
Duo tried to catch the breath he had stopped taking when the pain of the end of the experience had gotten too much for him. He raised his eyes to see Solo already standing. On his back, reaching a full two feet above him and dragging the tips on the floor, were Solo's wings. Right now, he resembled a fallen angel motife. Blood covered all but a few select places. These which had been spared from the scarlet flood were a pale white. The feathers clung to each other, weighed down by the immense amount of blood. Solo's hair, also streaked red, along with the blood streaks on his bare chest gave him a very intimidating look. He looked like he'd just killed everything near him, without regretting a minute of it.
Duo, still a little shaky, stood up. Slowly, he began to flex the muscles which now had room to move, outside of his constrained back. He looked up and noticed that the 'elbow' of his wing was about half a foot shorter than Solo's. Both their wings matched each other perfectly. A long bone which was connected to their spine stretched out from their back. Then, another bone connected to the first in a joint that pointed toward their bodies and ended about a foot above each boy's head. Then, a long, light and easily moved bone stretched to the floor. Duo's wings were covered in a thin, skin- like black covering. Solo, on the other hand, had white feathers, which, at this time, were stained in splotches of crimson. He too flexed his muscles, spreading his wings as far as he could in the small bathroom.
Glancing into the mirror, Duo realized just how much blood he had gotten on himself. He would have a much easier time though, cleaning off the skin of his wings, opposed to the feathers of Solo. Grinning at his angel look alike counterpart, and, in a perfectly clear, unwavering sarcastic voice, Duo said, "You know, this is all your fault."
///////////////////////////////////Duo////////////////////////////////////
"Solo, please, please open your eyes." I can feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. I look down at Solo. I don't understand it, he has the antidote, I gave it to him, why isn't he getting better. He lays perfectly still, his skin is pale and his body shudders with each breath. His eyes open and are hazy, with a far-away look to them as he stares at me. He opens his pale, dry lips, saying, "Boy's don't cry Ciaran. You know that. I'm not worth cryin for anyways."
I wipe my sleeves across my eyes to get rid of the traitorous drops. "You are worth it, you're worth anything Solo. You're my best friend. Please, please don't die. Ya can't leave me here alone."
"We're best friends kid. I'll never leave you. I promise, I'll always be with you." The next breath he tries to take seems to get caught in his throat, like he's choking on something. "Solo. Solo?" His eyes don't even seem human anymore, they're lifeless, but his body keeps fighting to take a breath. I lean down towards him, placing my hands on his cheeks, trying to shake him into breathing. What's that weird sound? It's kind of like a gurgling noise.
I can feel my eyes widen as a small drop of blood is coughed up by Solo's body. It falls to the ground, along with a trail that's now flowing out of his mouth. I can't breath. I can't feel my body. He's choking on his own blood. He's dying the same way all the others did.
That's it. The body's stopped moving. No no no. Solo, you can't be dead. I lay down and curl my back against his stomach.
"Come on Solo, you can wake up. You're tougher then any of us were. You can do it. You're not dead." The cold body behind me, unmoving, is not reassuring my denial at all. I gently pull his stiff arms around me. It's just like you used to do for me on cold nights, right Solo. The hot tears are back again. I can't control them. He wouldn't want me to cry, I know he wouldn't, but I just can't stop. Why? Why did he have to die. I want him back. I'd do anything to get him back.
Slowly, my eyes close over the tears as I feel myself drifting into unconsciousness. The energy in my body leaves, as I fall asleep in the embrace of death.
My eyes shoot open. There is nothing but blackness all around me. Maybe my eyes aren't really open at all. This is a dream. I can hear something, what is that?
"You will always be together, you are two of a kind, one and the other, never will you be separated. You must be together, forever." The voice, wait, is it even a voice? It's a dream, I can't really tell if I'm hearing this or if I just know it. Either way, I know what the words are, even if I don't really hear them. "Together forever, Solo and Ciaran. Forever, Ciaran. Ciaran. Ciaran." Suddenly, the strange dream voice has turned into Solo's. Huh? Where is he, I can't see anything.
My eyes slowly open, and take in my surroundings. I'm in the alley. The alley where we lived, and where he died. It's dark, it must be night already. Then I realize that the corpse's arms have been removed from around me.
"Huh. That's weird. Who would take him away from me?"
"Hey shorty, you gonna wake up or am I gonna have to jump on ya like always?"
My heart beats a few times in those seconds of hearing that voice. It must have all been a dream, he's alive. The voice is coming from behind me. As a role over I yell out "Solo!" Then I stop. That's not him. It's not my Solo.
He stands there, looking sad, I've never seen him look sad before.
"Oh. I see. This is still a dream. So, guess that means you really did die like all the others. Oh well." I look past his face, he has wings. Big, white wings. All feathery and angel-like. They look like they're coming from his back. "Wow Solo. I never would have thought that you'd become an angel when you died. So, are you a guardian angel or something? Oh, or maybe you're a ghost here to haunt me!"
He looks at me like I've lost my mind. Yeah right, you're the one with wings buddy.
"I'm not dead Ciaran."
"No. Don't you say that name. You're not really him, you can't be. I don't wanna ever hear anyone say that name again." I can't help but think back to the day Solo found me on the street, and we picked out that name. He said that a person's name is one of the most important things about them, and he wanted it to be a special one. It was. At least to me.
"Listen Ciar-"
"No! I said not to call me that."
"Fine, well then what should I call ya then?" The angel-Solo looked frustrated with me. Ha. Sucks for him.
"Call me....uhh....ah, call me Duo." I smile at my ingenious new name. This way I'll always remember poor Solo.
"Fine, Duo then. I'm not dead. I'm right here. This is me, Solo, you're best friend."
"Yeah, whatever Solo-ghost. So why are you here? Are you gonna be my guardian angel? I could use one." The apparition takes a step back and his jaw hangs open a little. Then he smiles and laughs. Even if he isn't real, I still like the sound of his laugh.
"I'm no angel kid. Listen, I need you to accept that I'm real. We need to talk about a few things."
I can't help but give him a skeptical look. Come on, it's an image of my dead best friend with wings. But hey, I've always been an open minded street brat. "Sure. Start yer talkin."
"Okay, well, first off, you better look at yourself." He takes a step closer to me. I tense my body, just in case. He sees this and just smiles, after all, he's the one who taught me to do that when someone advanced at me. He reaches over my head and pulls on something. I can feel it. It's not my head, or my hair. And he's not reaching down far enough for it to be my back. But I can feel it being tugged on, like it's a part of me. He grabs onto my shoulder and turns me to face one of the broken down buildings on the side of the alley. There's a broken window, the glass still hanging in the bottom half. In it, I can see him with his white wings. And, to my surprise, I'm there too. And I have wings. Big, black wings. Oh no, I knew it, I died too. He became an angel and I got stuck being a devil. Wonderful.
"So how come you're an angel and I'm a demon. I don't get it."
"We're not angels or demons kid. Sure, we may have the wings, but they're nothing but new parts. Like an extra arm or leg. It doesn't mean we have any special powers or nothin like that."
"Okay, so we're not new creatures. Just got some new limbs."
"Exactly. When I died, something happened. I don't know what. But it seemed like I was dreaming, everything I could see was a shadow. Like there wasn't stuff there. Then, I just kinda understood what was goin on. You know, when you're in a dream and suddenly you understand what's happening. Even if no one's told you." I shake my head. I've had that happen in dreams before. Like when I'm running from something, but I don't know what it is, but I'm scared to death of it. It's like I know that it's gonna hurt me if it catches me.
"Well, I just suddenly knew. You and I are somehow connected. I don't know why, or who did it. But we have to be together. Neither of us can die. I couldn't die without you because we're connected. You followin?"
"I think so. But what do the wings have to do with anything?"
"It's the way of keeping us together. When we're separated, either too far away, by, say dying." He grins at me. I can't help it, I smile back. This dream is fun. It's nice, and I kind of like the ghost of my friend. "Anyway, also, if we're away from each other for too long a time, then we get these wing thingies comin out of our backs. You get it?"
"Yeah, I think so. So you're saying all this just came to you suddenly when you," I pause and fight down the sarcasm in my tone, "died?"
"Yep, can't say why. Or how. Or who. Come to think of it, I don't know much, except that it's really happening. So-" He stops suddenly. My eyes widen, something's wrong. He's bent over in pain. Then, I find myself staring at the ground. It's gotten suddenly closer. My back feels like it's on fire. I can feel my muscles on my back, some I never even knew I had, begin to move. My wings flap back and forth, powerfully. It hurts. It hurts so much. More than a knife cut even. I begin to scream. I want anything, a noise, a voice, something to take my thoughts off the pain. Then, a hand is clamped over my mouth. I look up, and relax as I realize it belongs to Solo.
"Hey kid, you wanna..." he stops and leans over as the pain surges in both of us and we can't focus on words anymore. "keep it quiet over there. We don't want anyone to come by and find us." He looks at me, his eyes wide with what I could only say was fear. The real Solo was never afraid. But now I realize, it's not fear, it's disgust. He looks like he hates the world. Like he hates himself. What's wrong with him.
I try to contain another shout of pain as it feels like a hundred knives are cutting up my back. I look down, and for some reason, it surprises me that there's blood dripping off of me. A puddle has formed beneath me and the make believe Solo. Ghosts don't bleed.
Finally, the pain stopped. As I opened the eyes I didn't realize I'd closed, I saw that there was no longer an angel-Solo. The feathery appendages were gone. Stretching my arms back as far as they would twist, I can tell that the devil wings I had seen in the glass are gone too. Replaced by blood. And the strange feeling that I should weigh more.
"Shh. It's okay now kid. The pain's gone." Strong arms wrap around me from behind and he nuzzles against my neck. It's comforting, even though it's coming from a dead man. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry Ci--." He pauses and I feel him tense with pain, and anger. "I'm sorry Duo. Now you should get some rest kid." Despite the fact that I struggle, he pulls me down to lay on my side on the cold ground. He arms close tighter, holding me close and warm. He's the only family I have. He's the closest to a family I have. Slowly, I can feel my eyes start to close. The chest behind me moves in and out quietly, warmly. So different from a corpse. I can feel myself falling asleep, and I can't help but hope that he really is alive, there, behind me.
My eyes open up. I'm cold. So very cold. The arms are gone. I look around. Solo, the body is gone. Maybe I dreamed it all. I must have. So much for ghosts. I walk down that alleyway, hoping my next life will be a happier one.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"What do you mean this is my fault! Are ya kiddin! This is way more your fault that mine!"
Honestly, Duo hadn't expected quite that much of a reaction. But he smirked and was happy, his new purpose in life was to bug his blonde counterpart. Putting his hands on his hips in his usual defiant position, Duo smirked even more, as much as he could. "Oh come on. I had nothing to do with all this. It all started with you. I was just an innocent bystander."
He would have continued, but he noticed that Solo's head was hanging. His entire body was very still, so tense that it almost shook. His wings were taught and pulled against him. Then, he looked up and charged at Duo. "Hey- " Duo tried to get his arms free, thinking that he'd finally pissed Solo off a little too much. 'He's gonna kill me. That's it, I'm done for.'
Solo released his hold on Duo's arms and then pulled him into a desperate hug. He pulled the smaller boy into him, folding him up in his arms, against his bare bloody chest. Duo was speechless. He had no clue how to react. He had been preparing for a fight, and was now being hugged as if he were the only thing that could save Solo now. His reactions took over and he leaned farther against him, enjoying the feeling of safety. Neither one knew nor cared how long they stood with each other. Finally, Solo's arms went slack and he took a few steps away. Duo looked up, and was relieved to see the usual, happy go lucky, non-homicidal Solo looking back.
Okay readers, I have to cut this chapter right there. Alas, Fanfiction.net will not allow NC-17, and I really don't want to butcher my fic, so if you want the next chapter, you have two choices. Email me at tmbrwolf113@adelphia.net and I'll send you the next chapter, or you can go to where I keep my fic on my homepage. Enjoy! http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/zero10/Pastbecomesyou.txt