"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow."
--Aesop
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Turn.
Step.
Step.
Step...
Michael rubbed blearily at his eyes as watching Duo pace was beginning to make his head hurt. Michael had thought about pacing during The Wait...the Wait in which Heero would probably screw himself over and Smoke would go about, saving Wufei...but Duo had beaten him to the pacing punch. Duo took carefully measured steps, and always snapped about when turning around. His efficiency would have been impressive had it been utilized in something OTHER than pacing.
"Quit," Michael groaned.
Duo ignored him, "Hee-chan's in trouble..." he kept muttering to himself as he paced, "Everyone's suffering because of me..."
Step.
Step.
Step.
"Why are they doing this?" Duo mused, "Why is this all for me?"
"Love," Michael grumbled, "You should count yourself fortunate, really. There are many people out there who never have one person to love them, let alone two."
Or rather, that's what Michael ~intended~ to grumble. What he intended and all thoughts of grumbling quickly flew from his mind and he sat up ram-rod straight.
"Oh my God," he whispered. All that power...to be hit by all that power...TWICE...
Duo's face had paled, "Hee-chan..."
Grr.
Michael didn't bat an eye at the new voice in his head. He was too busy trying to figure out where his stomach went.
When this is over with...I'm going to have a heap of paperwork, aren't I?
"Uh huh." Michael didn't like this one bit. He wanted to stomp Raven like the gooshy little bug she was. But he had to stay here, if she caught him...with anger like that, with POWER like that, and the Gate creaking open...
Someone needs to go down there. Now. Smoke isn't getting anywhere with this...
Before Michael could agree, Duo was gone in a smattering of feathers and paperclips. He sighed and disappeared in similar fashion, hoping that he could help Smoke.
Raven sighed. She hadn't wanted to kill the boy...he was so cute. It would have been fun to play around with him a bit. But not only had he crossed the line, he'd spit on it, too.
"Heero!"
Heero tried to shift his neck (or the muscles and nerves that had once been something like a neck), but couldn't get it to obey. So he just lay there, grinning still at his success. His last great mission, he supposed.
Duo fluttered down out of nowhere, stumbling on a rock and coming face to face with Heero's broken body.
"Heero, why? You promised..." Duo sniffled miserably. "You promised you wouldn't get hurt!"
Funny. It hurt more to be blown up by a Gundam than it did to be blasted apart by a demoness. How utterly fascinating. Maybe he'd tell Trowa...or something like that. Mission complete. Finally. The mission was comp---wait, wait. No, it wasn't. One thing left to do.
"I fed your cat for you," Heero whispered hoarsely.
Duo's eyes widened considerably and he tried a shaky smile, "You fed Mewser for me?"
"Mewser?" Heero chuckled softly, "That sounds like a name you'd choose..."
Duo kneeled down in the dirt, scrubbing furiously at his eyes, "Why did you do this?" he asked as he scooped up what was left of Heero into his arms, "I didn't want anyone else to be hurt..."
For a wild moment, Heero wondered what Une would put in his obituary. Somehow, "charbroiled in Hell" just didn't sound too much like her...
Thoughts that make no sense, Heero mused, You're dying all right. Make it good.
"Duo..." Heero croaked. His voice was now so cracked and roughed and...quiet...that Duo had to lean forward to hear him. His braid tumbled over his shoulder to hang limply, the tip tickling Heero's neck, "I loved you..."
Duo's breath hitched in the back of his neck. "You...loved me?" As if the words didn't sink in. Especially loved. Not in the present tense. "Don't talk like you're already dead, Hee-chan..."
"I knew you loved Wufei..." Heero continued, pausing to cough up whatever was left of a lung. "So I didn't tell you. I knew it would make you feel guilty because you couldn't love me back..."
"You kept that to yourself all this time?" Duo's braid swung a bit as he pulled Heero closer.
"I had to." Heero smirked. "What would our friends think if they found out the Perfect Soldier was weak enough to have unrequited love?"
"They wouldn't have thought any less of you!" Duo sobbed. "They...you're only human, Hee-chan."
Heero's vision began to blur; Duo became a glowing blob of flesh and brown. He had to finish this; Wufei was more important. He needed to get Duo's attention off of him and on the person who needed it. Who deserved it.
"Don't cry for me, Duo," he said feebly, reaching up a shaky hand to touch Duo's face where he assumed tears would be. His fingers felt something wet; he knew it. "Please. I'm not worth it."
"Don't ever say that!" Duo clutched Heero tighter. "It's not true, Heero! You are worth it!"
Slowly, Heero began to get numb. His arms, his legs, his chest...all of the pain seemed to drain out of him. He was warm. And as badly as he wanted to stay with Duo, make his hurt go away, he was being drawn elsewhere.
He had to hurry.
"Duo...don't waste your chance..." It was so much harder to breathe. Strange, how he had never noticed something like that before. Maybe if he just stopped, he'd have enough strength left to complete his mission, "Don't...waste the gift...of the Spandex God..."
Duo squeaked pitifully and burrowed his face into the mess of what had been the crook of Heero's neck and shoulder, "Working for Une has given you an ego..." he muttered miserably, "Please, Hee-chan..."
"Save your love..." Heero murmured as he felt himself slipping away, "And be happy..."
Heero slipped. Duo's blur, the grit of the sand beneath him, the sensation of being the world's largest charbroiled steak simply faded to black and Heero Yuy was just...falling. Not a fast fall or a steep fall or any kind of fall he could think of. Just falling. And from everywhere and yet nowhere came a voice:
Don't expect me to turn you into an angel as well. I've got enough paperwork here.
"I don't deserve it," he repeated softly, and then everything seemed to settle. And in a blink, Heero Yuy was gone.
Michael, with Smoke on his shoulders, suddenly faltered and winced.
"Bloody shit," he growled. "Raven killed him. We're never going to hear the end of that one..."
"Look, I know you're mad--STEADY, you moron!" Smoke wobbled as Michael's hovering altitude dipped. "But swearing won't make it better."
"At this point, anything makes this situation better," Michael huffed. "How are you doing?"
"I'd be better if I had a lock pick or a large knife, but this is working," Smoke grunted, slicing through the bonds on Wufei's wrists. He continued to stare blankly at the terrain below, no longer fiery and brave and full of justice. He was just...well, he just was.
As cliché as it was, he was a shell of his former self.
Just as Smoke heard part of the binding rip, the Gate creaked open ever so slightly. You could not tell by looking; only by the grating, creaking sound could you assume it had moved at all. But it was enough - a hiss, and Smoke was roughly jostled by a blast of darkness. Pure, unharnessed darkness.
It snapped at Smoke like an untamed viper and she screeched, falling about ten feet as she was wrenched out of Michael's grip. There was a sickening crunch as she hit the ground - fortunately, being immortal, it healed fast and she was back on her feet.
Michael immediately dropped to the ground with a flutter of cloth and feathers. He immediately began to stress. "Are you okay?! Is anything broken?! Should I get help?!"
Yes, no, and no," Smoke swatted him on the head. "Stop being such a worrier."
"You crunched. That's usually not a good sound," Michael pointed out.
Smoke sighed. "Okay. But I'm fine. Right now, we need to be more concerned with the fact that the Gate is now open. Sort of."
"You can be concerned all you want, dearies," an all-too familiar, all-too sultry, and all-too unwelcome voice said from behind them, "But once it's started, it can't be stopped."
"Raven," Smoke grumbled.
The demoness gave a slight curtsy at her name.
"Just once, I'd like to have a bad day without you," Smoke pulled herself to her feet and gave her wings a good, fierce shake.
Raven laughed lightly behind her talons. From behind another large crystal, Kiran peeked out and swallowed. Raven had lost it, that much he was sure of. All that power she had used...just to destroy a mere human! It was insane! She could've cooked him at a third of the power level she had used! But no...the Boss had promised her Wufei, and she was smitten. And Raven was not going to let anything, ANYTHING, take Wufei away from her.
Hail and farewell, Heero Yuy.
But Heero had been a mortal. Heero hadn't been in love with Wufei.
Kiran swallowed again and ducked behind the crystal. He wasn't a coward! No! Not by any stretch of the word! He was simply...overly-interested in his self-preservation.
Kiran...
Kiran winced. So much for that line of thought.
I have a job for you...
Kiran gulped. No no, not now. Being anywhere but behind this crystal could mean an untimely evaporation --
That is not a QUESTION, you imbecile!
"Yessir!" he whimpered. This was definitely not his day.
"Why? Why did you kill Heero?"
Raven shrugged, not bothering to even flick a glance in Duo's direction. "He pissed me off."
Michael's stomach sunk. Heero was dead. Crap, Une was going to be upset...Two of her best agents dead, and a third about to wipe out the human race. He wondered what would be most appropriate way to break it to her...
"I can't believe you," Duo snarled, looking like a wild animal who'd been near-roadkill one too many times. "You kill me, you hurt my 'Fei again and again, you...you BREAK him, and now you kill Hee-chan."
"Look, it's all in the interest of the goal. The end justifies the means," Raven explained.
"No. Nothing justifies your end," Smoke interrupted. "You're killing innocent people just so you can have a plaything and ruin life as we know it."
Raven sighed. "I'm a demoness. That's what I do."
The Gate creaked open another half an inch. Before the angels could brace themselves, another tentacle of darkness lashed out and sent Michael and Smoke flying, slamming into a crystal and shattering it.
"I'll never forgive you." Raven finally turned around to look at Duo. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done to the people I love."
"What can you do?" Raven smiled nastily. "The Gate is open. Pretty soon, Wufei will start absorbing its energy and spreading it."
In the collective memory of the universe, there was one constant that had always remained: Duo Maxwell did not get angry. Oh he got irked, irritated, ticked, pissed, indignant, aggravated, exasperated, incensed, vexed, and all other kinds of wonderfully negative emotions, but never angry. Surely he had led a life that would justify an occasional bout of anger, but nope. Duo Maxwell could let an insult slide over him like water on the duck's back. And hey, he HAD been a Gundam pilot and all. He didn't need to get angry.
But now...now...
He. Was. Furious.
If Raven had had an iota of sense outside of acquiring Wufei, she would've been frightened. As it was, she felt nothing but cocky. She smirked at Duo's enraged expression and nibbled on a talon, "What are you going to do, little one?" she taunted casually, "I hope you're more effective than your little Spandex God was---"
Raven careened into another crystal pillar, shattering it. She sat up amongst the shards and ruins, blinking in absolute surprise, "What the fuck...?" she managed to croak.
Sprawled by their own ruined crystal, Michael and Smoke were also furiously blinking...whether from the after-image from Duo's flash of power or just shock, they weren't quite sure.
"I'm going to kill you," Duo snarled through clenched teeth and stepped a bit closer to Raven.
Despite having felt the blast first-hand, Raven kept a wry grin on her face, "I'm immortal, good sir," she reminded him snidely.
Duo smiled a smile of his own, "I don't care."
"Is this a good time to say 'uh-oh'?" Smoke asked, accepting Michael's hand for assistance up.
NOW would be a good time, Kiran. The Boss was impatient. Kiran sighed; fine, he would do as he was told. If Raven was going to turn into a crisp, he wasn't going to go down with her.
Michael and Smoke made a move to help Duo - cast a spell, jump on Raven, whatever it took - but they didn't get the chance. Suddenly, there was a red blur in their faces.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt," Kiran cracked his knuckles, "but I can't let you get in the way."
Michael got into a fighting stance. "Oh, you can't?"
Kiran shrugged. "Nothing personal. It's just my job."
"Are you people programmed to say that?" Smoke said, before putting her arm out, fist clenched except for two fingers. "Blindness!"
Kiran raised his own hand with all his fingers outstretched...and /caught/ the spell. He literally reached out and plucked Smoke's magic straight from the air.
Smoke and Michael gaped dumbly.
Kiran gave them a smirk that was completely void of the whinny, cowardly, and pathetic demon they had taken him to be.
And then he threw the spell right back at them.
It was an insane notion, really. After all, how could one simply pluck and throw something intangible like magic? But, insane or not, there was the fact that he had done it...as Smoke soon realized as her own spell smacked into her face.
She fell with a shriek, her hands pressed tightly against her eyelids.
"Smoke??" Michael kneeled down next to her; to do what, he wasn't quite sure.
"Hurts..." she moaned feebly.
Kiran sighed dramatically and shook his head. From her vantage point of on the ground, Raven could just /stare/. Kiran...could...Kiran...Kiran...had a USE?? Kiran, with the common sense of per say, a goldfish...KIRAN could do...do...THAT??
Everything has a use, dear girl.
Duo was staring at the downed pair over his shoulder, his amethyst eyes wide with shock. Raven took the opportunity to scramble up to her feet to prepare a better defense. She wasn't afraid of him, no. She just wanted to give her enemy the satisfaction that she had killed him as an almost equal, and not on her knees.
"Michael...?" Duo ventured.
Michael stood slowly, glaring blue fire at Kiran, "I can handle him," he said darkly, "Get the bitch, get Wufei, and get out of here."
"But..." Duo knew he should do what he was told. But he didn't want to leave Michael and Smoke, not like this.
"Just do it!" Michael snapped. "I'll do what I can, but you have to save Wufei! Make sure that Heero's death wasn't a waste!"
Heero. Suddenly, all of Duo's anger was back. Raven had broken Wufei, and turned Heero into a burnt mess. This poor excuse for a demoness wasn't going to get away.
He let out a wordless scream, and lashed out with one hand. Blue lightning, red thunder, the heart of Duo's anger slammed into Raven. It set her clothes aflame and burned her skin, but she stood her ground.
Slowly, the Gate creaked open further. Wufei dangled precariously as his partially broken bonds ripped further. There was a shredding sound, and the bonds gave way.
Wufei didn't seem to notice or care as he plummeted to the craggy ground below.
"'FEI!" Duo felt something sharp and hard slam into his back - Raven had tried to throw a large chunk of shattered crystal - but he didn't care. With a giant leap and arms outstretched, he caught Wufei's limp body before it hit the ground.
"'Fei..." Duo whimpered. His body had changed, probably Raven's doing. He couldn't even find comfort in Wufei's beautiful eyes; they were bloody red and didn't suit him anymore.
Wufei still stared ahead blankly, seemingly unmoved by Duo's pitiful voice or tears. But slowly his lips moved and a little whisper came out. "Duo...I wanted to be happy..."
Those words broke Duo's heart.
"I'm sorry," Duo said, cradling Wufei to him. "I can't ever make it up to you, but I can get you out alive."
"No!" Duo turned back around at the inhuman snarl. Raven stood, burnt and smoking, but still standing and still looking plenty angry, "He's MINE!" she proclaimed before firing a burst of power at Duo in the similar way she had charbroiled Heero.
Duo squashed Wufei up against his chest and allowed his wings to expand to their full length, "Shields," he whispered, hoping it would do something.
Raven's energy blast crackled against an invisible barrier and harmlessly dissipated.
"You can't have him!" she screamed at Duo's back. She fired again, but with the same effect. "I won't let you take him!"
"He was never yours in the first place, woman!" Duo spat back.
He's mine.
All the combatants froze as the booming bass of a voice thundered throughout the cavern. The Boss had actually decided to intervene in a little bit of cosmic powerplay? Or at the very least, play referee to some lackies firefight?
Raven felt what small twinges of sanity she had left slipping, "No!" she screamed up at the cavern's ceiling, "No, you said! You promised him to me! You did!"
After all this time, you still believe I keep my promises.
"No!" Raven couldn't believe it. She'd worked so hard, she'd gone up to the filthy surface to GET him, got skewered, had angels follow her down, was mocked by a mortal...and now she didn't even get what she wanted. "NO!"
"Is Raven gonna lose it, Mikey?" Smoke muttered, massaging her sore eyes with one hand.
"Seems that way!" he said, ducking as Kiran tried to punch him in the jaw, landing a blow of his own to Kiran's knees.
"NO!" Some unseen force began to billow what was left of Raven's clothes, and Raven herself for that matter.
What are you going to do? You can't defy me.
"I WANTED him!" Raven shouted in pure anger. She fired again and again at Duo, but nothing could hit him. "He was GOING to be MINE!"
"You killed Heero," Duo said softly. "And you hurt my 'Fei. I can't forgive you."
And the Gate creaked open further. There wasn't much time left; it was half open now, and with the pressure from behind, it would soon be the end.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back on the surface, in the infirmary unit of Preventers HQ, Une stared out the window at the impending storm. Behind her, Sally and Trowa had managed to secure Quatre in what was lovingly dubbed the "Wufei Chang Cot of Fame". Une let her forehead rest against the cool pane of glass. After all the battles, after the war, after everything that had happened to her, she was still going to see the end of the world.
How disgustingly ironic.
Une didn't even bother to look up as Sally walked up behind her, "How is he?"
"Which one?" Sally asked with a touch of wryness, "We've had a lot of hurt 'he's in the past couple of days."
"True," Une sighed again.
"Quatre's about a millimeter away from a coma," Une winced and closed her eyes as Sally went on, "God only knows what that's going to do to Trowa. Duo's still dead, and somehow, I have a feeling Heero is too. And Wufei..." Sally glanced away, "It's not fair."
No, Une mused to herself. It sure wasn't. Out loud she said, "Round up some agents. Have them broadcast a message to the civilians to stay inside. But, given those storm clouds, I don't think they'll have much problem convincing them to do that."
"Yes'm," Sally said tiredly, "But dare I ask why?"
Une allowed her eyes to slide open and she stared into the burgundy storm clouds making their way over the horizon, "The public deserves the illusion that they have a ghost of a chance surviving the night."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wufei couldn't think. Even if he had been aware of the fact, he
wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. His mind was in so
many pieces; it was as if someone took a sledgehammer to a puzzle.
There were bits strewn all over the place, some in clumps and some
alone. So perhaps Wufei cared, or perhaps he didn't, but it was
impossible to know.
Parts of conversations floated by. "A mugger, Sally. Of all the dumb
ways...a fucking mugger." "And I just wish I could get one more
day...hell, one more hour with him, so I could tell him. So he would
know...and so I wouldn't feel like such a fucking coward." "You have
no idea how much I want to stay, 'Fei. But, there are rules,
and...gods, I'm sorry..."
"Wufei!"
A new voice, and startlingly clear at that. It sounded familiar, but
he couldn't think of the name. Literally.
"Wufei, listen to me. It's Quatre."
((Quatre...yes, that's right. But how did he get in HERE?))
"I...um...kinda had a Spaceheart thing. And I'm sort of dead."
((Sort of? How does one become "sort of" dead?))
"The whole demoness thing overloaded my circuits. I'm about ten
minutes away from a coma."
((No. My fault, again...))
"No! Gads, Wufei, that's you're problem! You can't blame yourself.
Not now. Don't you see what she did?"
((Who?))
"Raven, Wufei! She BROKE you! She broke your spirit so you could be
her little consort! And worst of all...she broke you so Duo would
hurt."
((Duo doesn't deserve any more pain. Only I--))
"Stop it! Do you hear me? STOP IT!"
For a moment, Wufei was speechless. The disembodied Quatre voice took
its chance.
"No one deserves anything that happened because of this. You don't,
Duo doesn't, Heero doesn't. You need to realize that, because despite
everyone's best efforts, the world is going to end rather soon. You
need to help them."
((What good am I? You said I'm broken. How can you fix a broken
person?))
"Duo loves you. Duo's putting all his effort into protecting you,
INSTEAD of closing the Gate. The least you could do is support him a
little."
((...yes.))
"Good."
((...Quatre?))
"Hmm?"
((Please don't die.))
"I'll try hard not to, Wufei."
At that moment, Wufei's eyes morphed from blood red to a beautiful
chocolate brown.
Duo's heart soared. Could it be? "'Fei?"
"...Duo...love...help..." Wufei's voice was so quiet and croaky that
Duo couldn't make out all the words. Despite his size, he looked for
all the world like a child who was afraid of monsters under his bed.
"What? 'Fei, I can't hear you, say it again!" Raven continued to
blast, continued to get closer, but Duo didn't bother to give her the
satisfaction of being panicked.
"Duo, I love you. I want to help."
Even though Duo knew, even after God Himself had come and told him, Duo's heart still skipped a beat. It was true, then! Wufei had loved him---did love him, rather!
Duo smooshed Wufei even closer to him, not knowing whether he should cry or tremble or combust, or what, "You have no clue how much I've wanted to hear you say that," he whispered hoarsely into Wufei's hair, "Gods, you have no idea..."
"Get AWAY from him!!" Raven screamed from behind, and this time, Duo was flung forward a bit from the brunt of her attack. Whatever she was throwing at him was getting more powerful as her anger increased and her wits left. "Don't make me kill you!"
"You already did!" Duo retorted in exasperation.
"I did!" Kiran corrected before he was tackled by Michael.
I did!!
Duo groaned, "Get in line!"
"Do we have a plan?" Wufei tried hard to look brave, to look cocky
and unafraid, but he wasn't fooling Duo.
"Not really." Duo just continued to hold him, relishing the fact that
Wufei had said - to his face - that he loved him. "We never got
around to making one. Hee-heero had a plan, but Raven...she..."
"She killed him trying to save you..."
Wufei's eyes widened further (if that was even possible). Why would
Heero ever do something like that for him? They had never been the
closest of friends, certainly not the closest out of their little
group of five...
"He did it for you." Wufei understood. He knew all too well the
misery he'd felt because he didn't save Duo. But where he had failed
and allowed himself to become a tool, Heero had stood up and
sacrificed himself bravely. It seemed that was all he could do -
fail.
"No! Don't say that, please, 'Fei..." Either Duo had truly heard, or
he could juts tell from experience what Wufei was thinking. "It
wasn't your fault; you couldn't know."
"I hate to be a party pooper," Smoke shouted, still standing out of
harm's way due to lack of sight "but you really need to do something
about Raven and the Gate! Not necessarily in that order!"
"What can I do to help you?" Wufei questioned softly.
"I don't know," Duo said sheepishly. He carefully set Wufei down on a
crystal, and then helped him to his feet. Wufei feebly wrapped an arm
over one of Duo's be-feathered shoulders.
I'm going to go with another cliché here: Do what feels right,
Wufei. All you have to do is support Duo, and that will be enough.
"I may be a little flimsy right now, but I can do that at the very
least," Wufei smiled a little.
"That's the 'Fei I know and love," Duo smiled as well, and then
turned his attention to the Gate. First things first - save the
planet, then smoosh the loopy demoness.
Easier said than done. Just how does one go about closing the Gates of Hell with a mentally unbalanced demoness behind them, a berserk demon before them, and generally has no time to spare?
What every good Gundam pilot does well: improvise.
And cause general madness and mayhem, but that fell under improvisation.
Duo inhaled deeply...and was promptly blasted backwards---AGAIN---by Raven. He yelped, shook his head vigorously, looked up...and swallowed. If he had thought Raven was scary before...well, dementia didn't suit her. At all. Besides being all bloody and gory, courtesy of Wufei, her hair was a disaster. Her talons appeared to have gained another two inches and her eyes had shifted to a wild red. She was breathing heavily and the air around her crackled from pent up energy.
"You can't close the Gate," she taunted in an insane, sing-song voice, "Wufei's the power source," she giggled madly and readied another energy ball, "Would you kill him? I think not..."
"I'm the power source...?" Wufei murmured absently.
"He's mine!" Raven continued, "Mineminemine! And not you," she glowered at Duo, "You," Smoke, "Or you," the tangle of Kiran and Michael, "Are going to be able to take him away when I'm done!"
"I've had just about enough of that," Duo snapped testily. "'Fei is not yours. 'Fei will never be yours."
((And because of this whole mess, he'll never be mine, either,)) he thought sourly.
"Push the gate closed."
"Huh?" Duo was still not used to Wufei's soft, wobbly tone of voice.
"That's how it stops, isn't it?" Wufei said. "We just have to push it closed."
"You can't just push it closed!" Raven shrilled. "It doesn't WORK like that!"
"Actually, it's not such a bad - oi, that's my RIB, you sunnufagun! - idea!" Michael thwapped Kiran across his head with his wings. "Worth a shot!"
Duo stepped forward, and put a hand on the monstrous Gate. He hissed and pulled his hand away; it was a most unpleasant sensation. Hot and cold and electric and sharp all at the same time.
He sucked in a breath. He could do this. For 'Fei, for Heero, he would do this.
"Duo?" Wufei questioned.
"C'mon, 'Fei. Let's fix this." Despite the knot in his stomach, Duo winked. It felt like the Duo Maxwell thing to do.
"It doesn't work that way!!!" Raven shrieked again, "Boss, tell them it doesn't work that way!!!"
No answer.
"Boss??" Raven exchanged a wild look with Kiran at the silence. They were apparently on their own...
"I'm the power source..." Raven's head snapped back to see Wufei still on his feet---a bit wobbly, but upright and GLARING, "What happens when the battery rebels? Poof!" Wufei waggled his eyebrows, "I control your gate, bitch."
Raven screamed. It was a completely fruitless and useless endeavor, but it worked wonders for some of her pent-up frustration, "It doesn't WORK that way!!!" and with that, she released all her energy into one blast.
Raven fell to her knees as she was suddenly lacking the energy to stand.
Kiran and Michael froze in their battle.
Smoke blinked furiously as her eyesight slowly came back to her.
Wufei was blasted backwards into another crystal pillar and shattered it.
Duo let out a small, pitiful squeak.
Raven, having some semblance of sanity returned to her, saw her handiwork and gasped.
Raven...
She swallowed, "Yes Boss?"
You are in so much trouble...
Wufei groaned. He seemed to be alive still. By all accounts he should have been smooshed, but for some reason, he was...not. He was, however, very sore.
It was the demon taint, he assumed. It was making him partially immortal.
"Boss, I can explain, really, it was just--I just--you gotta understand--" Raven tried to grovel, but it went on deaf omnipotent ears. There was a sharp crack as a something flew out of the gate. It was an arm-like...thing...with hand outstretched, ready to snatch her into the abyss. She desperately scrambled backwards, but it latched onto her ankle. It felt like very, very cold ice had just slithered up her leg.
With a quick jerking motion, Raven went flying through the air and through the open Gate. She screamed horribly for a moment, before the impending doom swallowed her up and imploded upon itself, squishing her into nothing.
"...I'm guessing that hurt," Smoke said, blinking more. "A lot."
"I hope it did," grumbled Wufei, struggling to get to his feet. "It is only just, after all."
"Glad to see you're feeling well enough to be narky, 'Fei. I missed that." Duo had slunk in Wufei's general direction while Raven had been pleading, and leaned over to give him a hand up.
"I missed you missing that," Wufei responded as he sluggishly pulled himself up. Duo grinned shyly and pulled him into a fierce hug.
Kiran, having seen Raven's fate, felt the fight drain from him. The grip he had on Michael's hair loosened and he gave up trying to twist out from the death hold around his throat. What was the point? No matter who won...he, ol' faithful, hardworking Kiran, would probably die. The Boss had ~liked~ Raven, and look what happened to her! What would happen to him?? The Boss hated him!
Truer words...
Kiran winced and closed his eyes. If the tendril...thing about to snag him, he didn't want to see it coming.
"I'm sorry about all this, 'Fei," Duo whispered into silken ebony strands, "I should have just told you and none of this would've happened..."
"I know now," Wufei replied quietly, burying his face into the crook of Duo's shoulder, "That's all that matters...besides," he added wryly, "I like wings."
Duo chuckled, "You have the oddest sense of humor..."
Wufei tightened his hold, "No I don't. Remember Quatre's moose jokes?"
"Excuse me!!" Michael barked from his position of holding-a-sub-dued-Kiran-in-a-headlock, "The Gates of HELL are about to open and engulf the Earth! You just MIGHT want to do something about that!"
"Oh, THANK you Michael, I totally FORGOT about that!" Duo snapped. He couldn't get one second to enjoy his 'Fei...
"No need to get snippy!" Michael wondered about Kiran's sudden surrender. Maybe Raven's squishing had made him lose hope? He certainly couldn't blame him...
Duo put a hand to the Gate again. He hissed as the pain registered up and down every nerve, but gritted his teeth and PUSHED. It creaked and creaked, and moved about a millimeter.
"Fuck," he said conversationally. He'd never do this in time; he'd done that with all his strength, and it hadn't budged.
He felt warm hands wrap around his waist. "I'm here, Duo."
Despite the fact that his hand was about to fall off, Duo smiled. That's right, 'Fei was there. 'Fei would help.
Nodding resolutely, he put both hands on the Gate and PUSHED again. This time the Gate pushed back, sending crackling pain up Duo's body. He squaked in discomfort.
"Duo!" Smoke and Michael shouted at the same time.
"I'm...fine..." he grumbled, though he was clearly not. Wufei's grip tightened; he wouldn't let Quatre down. He believed. He believed in Duo. And because he believed in Duo, by due process, he also believed in God. Michael suddenly felt something warm rise in his chest.
"Father...he just might do this," he said softly. "Not that I ever doubted him. Myself, I doubted. Never him. And never You..."
I know.
Duo shoved. And heaved. If he had been the big bad wolf, he would've huffed and puffed, if he thought it would help. The task would have been so much easier if the Gate would just stop shoving against him and willingly CLOSE!
But he had 'Fei.
The Gate creaked further shut.
Kiran sighed dejectedly and hung his head as far as the arm wrapped around his throat would allow him to, "You've lost, Boss. Give up..."
"Just shut it," Wufei was saying beneath his breath, "All you have to do is push it closed. I control this thing...just push it closed..."
Duo pushed and felt the flesh on his hands burn and start to crackle. Is it possible to die twice? He wondered for an insane moment. Some religious people liked to go around saying they were born again, but why did Duo Maxwell have to die again?
"Fucking irony," he muttered and gritted his teeth. He was on fire. The negative energy from the Gate was going to engulf him and squash him, just like Raven. Except this death was going to make his first death feel like a cakewalk by comparison.
First death. Duo sighed. Only he could have multiple deaths.
But for this death, he had his 'Fei with him, and that would make everything all right. Some how.
The Gate closed with a simple "click!"
--Aesop
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Turn.
Step.
Step.
Step...
Michael rubbed blearily at his eyes as watching Duo pace was beginning to make his head hurt. Michael had thought about pacing during The Wait...the Wait in which Heero would probably screw himself over and Smoke would go about, saving Wufei...but Duo had beaten him to the pacing punch. Duo took carefully measured steps, and always snapped about when turning around. His efficiency would have been impressive had it been utilized in something OTHER than pacing.
"Quit," Michael groaned.
Duo ignored him, "Hee-chan's in trouble..." he kept muttering to himself as he paced, "Everyone's suffering because of me..."
Step.
Step.
Step.
"Why are they doing this?" Duo mused, "Why is this all for me?"
"Love," Michael grumbled, "You should count yourself fortunate, really. There are many people out there who never have one person to love them, let alone two."
Or rather, that's what Michael ~intended~ to grumble. What he intended and all thoughts of grumbling quickly flew from his mind and he sat up ram-rod straight.
"Oh my God," he whispered. All that power...to be hit by all that power...TWICE...
Duo's face had paled, "Hee-chan..."
Grr.
Michael didn't bat an eye at the new voice in his head. He was too busy trying to figure out where his stomach went.
When this is over with...I'm going to have a heap of paperwork, aren't I?
"Uh huh." Michael didn't like this one bit. He wanted to stomp Raven like the gooshy little bug she was. But he had to stay here, if she caught him...with anger like that, with POWER like that, and the Gate creaking open...
Someone needs to go down there. Now. Smoke isn't getting anywhere with this...
Before Michael could agree, Duo was gone in a smattering of feathers and paperclips. He sighed and disappeared in similar fashion, hoping that he could help Smoke.
Raven sighed. She hadn't wanted to kill the boy...he was so cute. It would have been fun to play around with him a bit. But not only had he crossed the line, he'd spit on it, too.
"Heero!"
Heero tried to shift his neck (or the muscles and nerves that had once been something like a neck), but couldn't get it to obey. So he just lay there, grinning still at his success. His last great mission, he supposed.
Duo fluttered down out of nowhere, stumbling on a rock and coming face to face with Heero's broken body.
"Heero, why? You promised..." Duo sniffled miserably. "You promised you wouldn't get hurt!"
Funny. It hurt more to be blown up by a Gundam than it did to be blasted apart by a demoness. How utterly fascinating. Maybe he'd tell Trowa...or something like that. Mission complete. Finally. The mission was comp---wait, wait. No, it wasn't. One thing left to do.
"I fed your cat for you," Heero whispered hoarsely.
Duo's eyes widened considerably and he tried a shaky smile, "You fed Mewser for me?"
"Mewser?" Heero chuckled softly, "That sounds like a name you'd choose..."
Duo kneeled down in the dirt, scrubbing furiously at his eyes, "Why did you do this?" he asked as he scooped up what was left of Heero into his arms, "I didn't want anyone else to be hurt..."
For a wild moment, Heero wondered what Une would put in his obituary. Somehow, "charbroiled in Hell" just didn't sound too much like her...
Thoughts that make no sense, Heero mused, You're dying all right. Make it good.
"Duo..." Heero croaked. His voice was now so cracked and roughed and...quiet...that Duo had to lean forward to hear him. His braid tumbled over his shoulder to hang limply, the tip tickling Heero's neck, "I loved you..."
Duo's breath hitched in the back of his neck. "You...loved me?" As if the words didn't sink in. Especially loved. Not in the present tense. "Don't talk like you're already dead, Hee-chan..."
"I knew you loved Wufei..." Heero continued, pausing to cough up whatever was left of a lung. "So I didn't tell you. I knew it would make you feel guilty because you couldn't love me back..."
"You kept that to yourself all this time?" Duo's braid swung a bit as he pulled Heero closer.
"I had to." Heero smirked. "What would our friends think if they found out the Perfect Soldier was weak enough to have unrequited love?"
"They wouldn't have thought any less of you!" Duo sobbed. "They...you're only human, Hee-chan."
Heero's vision began to blur; Duo became a glowing blob of flesh and brown. He had to finish this; Wufei was more important. He needed to get Duo's attention off of him and on the person who needed it. Who deserved it.
"Don't cry for me, Duo," he said feebly, reaching up a shaky hand to touch Duo's face where he assumed tears would be. His fingers felt something wet; he knew it. "Please. I'm not worth it."
"Don't ever say that!" Duo clutched Heero tighter. "It's not true, Heero! You are worth it!"
Slowly, Heero began to get numb. His arms, his legs, his chest...all of the pain seemed to drain out of him. He was warm. And as badly as he wanted to stay with Duo, make his hurt go away, he was being drawn elsewhere.
He had to hurry.
"Duo...don't waste your chance..." It was so much harder to breathe. Strange, how he had never noticed something like that before. Maybe if he just stopped, he'd have enough strength left to complete his mission, "Don't...waste the gift...of the Spandex God..."
Duo squeaked pitifully and burrowed his face into the mess of what had been the crook of Heero's neck and shoulder, "Working for Une has given you an ego..." he muttered miserably, "Please, Hee-chan..."
"Save your love..." Heero murmured as he felt himself slipping away, "And be happy..."
Heero slipped. Duo's blur, the grit of the sand beneath him, the sensation of being the world's largest charbroiled steak simply faded to black and Heero Yuy was just...falling. Not a fast fall or a steep fall or any kind of fall he could think of. Just falling. And from everywhere and yet nowhere came a voice:
Don't expect me to turn you into an angel as well. I've got enough paperwork here.
"I don't deserve it," he repeated softly, and then everything seemed to settle. And in a blink, Heero Yuy was gone.
Michael, with Smoke on his shoulders, suddenly faltered and winced.
"Bloody shit," he growled. "Raven killed him. We're never going to hear the end of that one..."
"Look, I know you're mad--STEADY, you moron!" Smoke wobbled as Michael's hovering altitude dipped. "But swearing won't make it better."
"At this point, anything makes this situation better," Michael huffed. "How are you doing?"
"I'd be better if I had a lock pick or a large knife, but this is working," Smoke grunted, slicing through the bonds on Wufei's wrists. He continued to stare blankly at the terrain below, no longer fiery and brave and full of justice. He was just...well, he just was.
As cliché as it was, he was a shell of his former self.
Just as Smoke heard part of the binding rip, the Gate creaked open ever so slightly. You could not tell by looking; only by the grating, creaking sound could you assume it had moved at all. But it was enough - a hiss, and Smoke was roughly jostled by a blast of darkness. Pure, unharnessed darkness.
It snapped at Smoke like an untamed viper and she screeched, falling about ten feet as she was wrenched out of Michael's grip. There was a sickening crunch as she hit the ground - fortunately, being immortal, it healed fast and she was back on her feet.
Michael immediately dropped to the ground with a flutter of cloth and feathers. He immediately began to stress. "Are you okay?! Is anything broken?! Should I get help?!"
Yes, no, and no," Smoke swatted him on the head. "Stop being such a worrier."
"You crunched. That's usually not a good sound," Michael pointed out.
Smoke sighed. "Okay. But I'm fine. Right now, we need to be more concerned with the fact that the Gate is now open. Sort of."
"You can be concerned all you want, dearies," an all-too familiar, all-too sultry, and all-too unwelcome voice said from behind them, "But once it's started, it can't be stopped."
"Raven," Smoke grumbled.
The demoness gave a slight curtsy at her name.
"Just once, I'd like to have a bad day without you," Smoke pulled herself to her feet and gave her wings a good, fierce shake.
Raven laughed lightly behind her talons. From behind another large crystal, Kiran peeked out and swallowed. Raven had lost it, that much he was sure of. All that power she had used...just to destroy a mere human! It was insane! She could've cooked him at a third of the power level she had used! But no...the Boss had promised her Wufei, and she was smitten. And Raven was not going to let anything, ANYTHING, take Wufei away from her.
Hail and farewell, Heero Yuy.
But Heero had been a mortal. Heero hadn't been in love with Wufei.
Kiran swallowed again and ducked behind the crystal. He wasn't a coward! No! Not by any stretch of the word! He was simply...overly-interested in his self-preservation.
Kiran...
Kiran winced. So much for that line of thought.
I have a job for you...
Kiran gulped. No no, not now. Being anywhere but behind this crystal could mean an untimely evaporation --
That is not a QUESTION, you imbecile!
"Yessir!" he whimpered. This was definitely not his day.
"Why? Why did you kill Heero?"
Raven shrugged, not bothering to even flick a glance in Duo's direction. "He pissed me off."
Michael's stomach sunk. Heero was dead. Crap, Une was going to be upset...Two of her best agents dead, and a third about to wipe out the human race. He wondered what would be most appropriate way to break it to her...
"I can't believe you," Duo snarled, looking like a wild animal who'd been near-roadkill one too many times. "You kill me, you hurt my 'Fei again and again, you...you BREAK him, and now you kill Hee-chan."
"Look, it's all in the interest of the goal. The end justifies the means," Raven explained.
"No. Nothing justifies your end," Smoke interrupted. "You're killing innocent people just so you can have a plaything and ruin life as we know it."
Raven sighed. "I'm a demoness. That's what I do."
The Gate creaked open another half an inch. Before the angels could brace themselves, another tentacle of darkness lashed out and sent Michael and Smoke flying, slamming into a crystal and shattering it.
"I'll never forgive you." Raven finally turned around to look at Duo. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done to the people I love."
"What can you do?" Raven smiled nastily. "The Gate is open. Pretty soon, Wufei will start absorbing its energy and spreading it."
In the collective memory of the universe, there was one constant that had always remained: Duo Maxwell did not get angry. Oh he got irked, irritated, ticked, pissed, indignant, aggravated, exasperated, incensed, vexed, and all other kinds of wonderfully negative emotions, but never angry. Surely he had led a life that would justify an occasional bout of anger, but nope. Duo Maxwell could let an insult slide over him like water on the duck's back. And hey, he HAD been a Gundam pilot and all. He didn't need to get angry.
But now...now...
He. Was. Furious.
If Raven had had an iota of sense outside of acquiring Wufei, she would've been frightened. As it was, she felt nothing but cocky. She smirked at Duo's enraged expression and nibbled on a talon, "What are you going to do, little one?" she taunted casually, "I hope you're more effective than your little Spandex God was---"
Raven careened into another crystal pillar, shattering it. She sat up amongst the shards and ruins, blinking in absolute surprise, "What the fuck...?" she managed to croak.
Sprawled by their own ruined crystal, Michael and Smoke were also furiously blinking...whether from the after-image from Duo's flash of power or just shock, they weren't quite sure.
"I'm going to kill you," Duo snarled through clenched teeth and stepped a bit closer to Raven.
Despite having felt the blast first-hand, Raven kept a wry grin on her face, "I'm immortal, good sir," she reminded him snidely.
Duo smiled a smile of his own, "I don't care."
"Is this a good time to say 'uh-oh'?" Smoke asked, accepting Michael's hand for assistance up.
NOW would be a good time, Kiran. The Boss was impatient. Kiran sighed; fine, he would do as he was told. If Raven was going to turn into a crisp, he wasn't going to go down with her.
Michael and Smoke made a move to help Duo - cast a spell, jump on Raven, whatever it took - but they didn't get the chance. Suddenly, there was a red blur in their faces.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt," Kiran cracked his knuckles, "but I can't let you get in the way."
Michael got into a fighting stance. "Oh, you can't?"
Kiran shrugged. "Nothing personal. It's just my job."
"Are you people programmed to say that?" Smoke said, before putting her arm out, fist clenched except for two fingers. "Blindness!"
Kiran raised his own hand with all his fingers outstretched...and /caught/ the spell. He literally reached out and plucked Smoke's magic straight from the air.
Smoke and Michael gaped dumbly.
Kiran gave them a smirk that was completely void of the whinny, cowardly, and pathetic demon they had taken him to be.
And then he threw the spell right back at them.
It was an insane notion, really. After all, how could one simply pluck and throw something intangible like magic? But, insane or not, there was the fact that he had done it...as Smoke soon realized as her own spell smacked into her face.
She fell with a shriek, her hands pressed tightly against her eyelids.
"Smoke??" Michael kneeled down next to her; to do what, he wasn't quite sure.
"Hurts..." she moaned feebly.
Kiran sighed dramatically and shook his head. From her vantage point of on the ground, Raven could just /stare/. Kiran...could...Kiran...Kiran...had a USE?? Kiran, with the common sense of per say, a goldfish...KIRAN could do...do...THAT??
Everything has a use, dear girl.
Duo was staring at the downed pair over his shoulder, his amethyst eyes wide with shock. Raven took the opportunity to scramble up to her feet to prepare a better defense. She wasn't afraid of him, no. She just wanted to give her enemy the satisfaction that she had killed him as an almost equal, and not on her knees.
"Michael...?" Duo ventured.
Michael stood slowly, glaring blue fire at Kiran, "I can handle him," he said darkly, "Get the bitch, get Wufei, and get out of here."
"But..." Duo knew he should do what he was told. But he didn't want to leave Michael and Smoke, not like this.
"Just do it!" Michael snapped. "I'll do what I can, but you have to save Wufei! Make sure that Heero's death wasn't a waste!"
Heero. Suddenly, all of Duo's anger was back. Raven had broken Wufei, and turned Heero into a burnt mess. This poor excuse for a demoness wasn't going to get away.
He let out a wordless scream, and lashed out with one hand. Blue lightning, red thunder, the heart of Duo's anger slammed into Raven. It set her clothes aflame and burned her skin, but she stood her ground.
Slowly, the Gate creaked open further. Wufei dangled precariously as his partially broken bonds ripped further. There was a shredding sound, and the bonds gave way.
Wufei didn't seem to notice or care as he plummeted to the craggy ground below.
"'FEI!" Duo felt something sharp and hard slam into his back - Raven had tried to throw a large chunk of shattered crystal - but he didn't care. With a giant leap and arms outstretched, he caught Wufei's limp body before it hit the ground.
"'Fei..." Duo whimpered. His body had changed, probably Raven's doing. He couldn't even find comfort in Wufei's beautiful eyes; they were bloody red and didn't suit him anymore.
Wufei still stared ahead blankly, seemingly unmoved by Duo's pitiful voice or tears. But slowly his lips moved and a little whisper came out. "Duo...I wanted to be happy..."
Those words broke Duo's heart.
"I'm sorry," Duo said, cradling Wufei to him. "I can't ever make it up to you, but I can get you out alive."
"No!" Duo turned back around at the inhuman snarl. Raven stood, burnt and smoking, but still standing and still looking plenty angry, "He's MINE!" she proclaimed before firing a burst of power at Duo in the similar way she had charbroiled Heero.
Duo squashed Wufei up against his chest and allowed his wings to expand to their full length, "Shields," he whispered, hoping it would do something.
Raven's energy blast crackled against an invisible barrier and harmlessly dissipated.
"You can't have him!" she screamed at Duo's back. She fired again, but with the same effect. "I won't let you take him!"
"He was never yours in the first place, woman!" Duo spat back.
He's mine.
All the combatants froze as the booming bass of a voice thundered throughout the cavern. The Boss had actually decided to intervene in a little bit of cosmic powerplay? Or at the very least, play referee to some lackies firefight?
Raven felt what small twinges of sanity she had left slipping, "No!" she screamed up at the cavern's ceiling, "No, you said! You promised him to me! You did!"
After all this time, you still believe I keep my promises.
"No!" Raven couldn't believe it. She'd worked so hard, she'd gone up to the filthy surface to GET him, got skewered, had angels follow her down, was mocked by a mortal...and now she didn't even get what she wanted. "NO!"
"Is Raven gonna lose it, Mikey?" Smoke muttered, massaging her sore eyes with one hand.
"Seems that way!" he said, ducking as Kiran tried to punch him in the jaw, landing a blow of his own to Kiran's knees.
"NO!" Some unseen force began to billow what was left of Raven's clothes, and Raven herself for that matter.
What are you going to do? You can't defy me.
"I WANTED him!" Raven shouted in pure anger. She fired again and again at Duo, but nothing could hit him. "He was GOING to be MINE!"
"You killed Heero," Duo said softly. "And you hurt my 'Fei. I can't forgive you."
And the Gate creaked open further. There wasn't much time left; it was half open now, and with the pressure from behind, it would soon be the end.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back on the surface, in the infirmary unit of Preventers HQ, Une stared out the window at the impending storm. Behind her, Sally and Trowa had managed to secure Quatre in what was lovingly dubbed the "Wufei Chang Cot of Fame". Une let her forehead rest against the cool pane of glass. After all the battles, after the war, after everything that had happened to her, she was still going to see the end of the world.
How disgustingly ironic.
Une didn't even bother to look up as Sally walked up behind her, "How is he?"
"Which one?" Sally asked with a touch of wryness, "We've had a lot of hurt 'he's in the past couple of days."
"True," Une sighed again.
"Quatre's about a millimeter away from a coma," Une winced and closed her eyes as Sally went on, "God only knows what that's going to do to Trowa. Duo's still dead, and somehow, I have a feeling Heero is too. And Wufei..." Sally glanced away, "It's not fair."
No, Une mused to herself. It sure wasn't. Out loud she said, "Round up some agents. Have them broadcast a message to the civilians to stay inside. But, given those storm clouds, I don't think they'll have much problem convincing them to do that."
"Yes'm," Sally said tiredly, "But dare I ask why?"
Une allowed her eyes to slide open and she stared into the burgundy storm clouds making their way over the horizon, "The public deserves the illusion that they have a ghost of a chance surviving the night."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wufei couldn't think. Even if he had been aware of the fact, he
wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. His mind was in so
many pieces; it was as if someone took a sledgehammer to a puzzle.
There were bits strewn all over the place, some in clumps and some
alone. So perhaps Wufei cared, or perhaps he didn't, but it was
impossible to know.
Parts of conversations floated by. "A mugger, Sally. Of all the dumb
ways...a fucking mugger." "And I just wish I could get one more
day...hell, one more hour with him, so I could tell him. So he would
know...and so I wouldn't feel like such a fucking coward." "You have
no idea how much I want to stay, 'Fei. But, there are rules,
and...gods, I'm sorry..."
"Wufei!"
A new voice, and startlingly clear at that. It sounded familiar, but
he couldn't think of the name. Literally.
"Wufei, listen to me. It's Quatre."
((Quatre...yes, that's right. But how did he get in HERE?))
"I...um...kinda had a Spaceheart thing. And I'm sort of dead."
((Sort of? How does one become "sort of" dead?))
"The whole demoness thing overloaded my circuits. I'm about ten
minutes away from a coma."
((No. My fault, again...))
"No! Gads, Wufei, that's you're problem! You can't blame yourself.
Not now. Don't you see what she did?"
((Who?))
"Raven, Wufei! She BROKE you! She broke your spirit so you could be
her little consort! And worst of all...she broke you so Duo would
hurt."
((Duo doesn't deserve any more pain. Only I--))
"Stop it! Do you hear me? STOP IT!"
For a moment, Wufei was speechless. The disembodied Quatre voice took
its chance.
"No one deserves anything that happened because of this. You don't,
Duo doesn't, Heero doesn't. You need to realize that, because despite
everyone's best efforts, the world is going to end rather soon. You
need to help them."
((What good am I? You said I'm broken. How can you fix a broken
person?))
"Duo loves you. Duo's putting all his effort into protecting you,
INSTEAD of closing the Gate. The least you could do is support him a
little."
((...yes.))
"Good."
((...Quatre?))
"Hmm?"
((Please don't die.))
"I'll try hard not to, Wufei."
At that moment, Wufei's eyes morphed from blood red to a beautiful
chocolate brown.
Duo's heart soared. Could it be? "'Fei?"
"...Duo...love...help..." Wufei's voice was so quiet and croaky that
Duo couldn't make out all the words. Despite his size, he looked for
all the world like a child who was afraid of monsters under his bed.
"What? 'Fei, I can't hear you, say it again!" Raven continued to
blast, continued to get closer, but Duo didn't bother to give her the
satisfaction of being panicked.
"Duo, I love you. I want to help."
Even though Duo knew, even after God Himself had come and told him, Duo's heart still skipped a beat. It was true, then! Wufei had loved him---did love him, rather!
Duo smooshed Wufei even closer to him, not knowing whether he should cry or tremble or combust, or what, "You have no clue how much I've wanted to hear you say that," he whispered hoarsely into Wufei's hair, "Gods, you have no idea..."
"Get AWAY from him!!" Raven screamed from behind, and this time, Duo was flung forward a bit from the brunt of her attack. Whatever she was throwing at him was getting more powerful as her anger increased and her wits left. "Don't make me kill you!"
"You already did!" Duo retorted in exasperation.
"I did!" Kiran corrected before he was tackled by Michael.
I did!!
Duo groaned, "Get in line!"
"Do we have a plan?" Wufei tried hard to look brave, to look cocky
and unafraid, but he wasn't fooling Duo.
"Not really." Duo just continued to hold him, relishing the fact that
Wufei had said - to his face - that he loved him. "We never got
around to making one. Hee-heero had a plan, but Raven...she..."
"She killed him trying to save you..."
Wufei's eyes widened further (if that was even possible). Why would
Heero ever do something like that for him? They had never been the
closest of friends, certainly not the closest out of their little
group of five...
"He did it for you." Wufei understood. He knew all too well the
misery he'd felt because he didn't save Duo. But where he had failed
and allowed himself to become a tool, Heero had stood up and
sacrificed himself bravely. It seemed that was all he could do -
fail.
"No! Don't say that, please, 'Fei..." Either Duo had truly heard, or
he could juts tell from experience what Wufei was thinking. "It
wasn't your fault; you couldn't know."
"I hate to be a party pooper," Smoke shouted, still standing out of
harm's way due to lack of sight "but you really need to do something
about Raven and the Gate! Not necessarily in that order!"
"What can I do to help you?" Wufei questioned softly.
"I don't know," Duo said sheepishly. He carefully set Wufei down on a
crystal, and then helped him to his feet. Wufei feebly wrapped an arm
over one of Duo's be-feathered shoulders.
I'm going to go with another cliché here: Do what feels right,
Wufei. All you have to do is support Duo, and that will be enough.
"I may be a little flimsy right now, but I can do that at the very
least," Wufei smiled a little.
"That's the 'Fei I know and love," Duo smiled as well, and then
turned his attention to the Gate. First things first - save the
planet, then smoosh the loopy demoness.
Easier said than done. Just how does one go about closing the Gates of Hell with a mentally unbalanced demoness behind them, a berserk demon before them, and generally has no time to spare?
What every good Gundam pilot does well: improvise.
And cause general madness and mayhem, but that fell under improvisation.
Duo inhaled deeply...and was promptly blasted backwards---AGAIN---by Raven. He yelped, shook his head vigorously, looked up...and swallowed. If he had thought Raven was scary before...well, dementia didn't suit her. At all. Besides being all bloody and gory, courtesy of Wufei, her hair was a disaster. Her talons appeared to have gained another two inches and her eyes had shifted to a wild red. She was breathing heavily and the air around her crackled from pent up energy.
"You can't close the Gate," she taunted in an insane, sing-song voice, "Wufei's the power source," she giggled madly and readied another energy ball, "Would you kill him? I think not..."
"I'm the power source...?" Wufei murmured absently.
"He's mine!" Raven continued, "Mineminemine! And not you," she glowered at Duo, "You," Smoke, "Or you," the tangle of Kiran and Michael, "Are going to be able to take him away when I'm done!"
"I've had just about enough of that," Duo snapped testily. "'Fei is not yours. 'Fei will never be yours."
((And because of this whole mess, he'll never be mine, either,)) he thought sourly.
"Push the gate closed."
"Huh?" Duo was still not used to Wufei's soft, wobbly tone of voice.
"That's how it stops, isn't it?" Wufei said. "We just have to push it closed."
"You can't just push it closed!" Raven shrilled. "It doesn't WORK like that!"
"Actually, it's not such a bad - oi, that's my RIB, you sunnufagun! - idea!" Michael thwapped Kiran across his head with his wings. "Worth a shot!"
Duo stepped forward, and put a hand on the monstrous Gate. He hissed and pulled his hand away; it was a most unpleasant sensation. Hot and cold and electric and sharp all at the same time.
He sucked in a breath. He could do this. For 'Fei, for Heero, he would do this.
"Duo?" Wufei questioned.
"C'mon, 'Fei. Let's fix this." Despite the knot in his stomach, Duo winked. It felt like the Duo Maxwell thing to do.
"It doesn't work that way!!!" Raven shrieked again, "Boss, tell them it doesn't work that way!!!"
No answer.
"Boss??" Raven exchanged a wild look with Kiran at the silence. They were apparently on their own...
"I'm the power source..." Raven's head snapped back to see Wufei still on his feet---a bit wobbly, but upright and GLARING, "What happens when the battery rebels? Poof!" Wufei waggled his eyebrows, "I control your gate, bitch."
Raven screamed. It was a completely fruitless and useless endeavor, but it worked wonders for some of her pent-up frustration, "It doesn't WORK that way!!!" and with that, she released all her energy into one blast.
Raven fell to her knees as she was suddenly lacking the energy to stand.
Kiran and Michael froze in their battle.
Smoke blinked furiously as her eyesight slowly came back to her.
Wufei was blasted backwards into another crystal pillar and shattered it.
Duo let out a small, pitiful squeak.
Raven, having some semblance of sanity returned to her, saw her handiwork and gasped.
Raven...
She swallowed, "Yes Boss?"
You are in so much trouble...
Wufei groaned. He seemed to be alive still. By all accounts he should have been smooshed, but for some reason, he was...not. He was, however, very sore.
It was the demon taint, he assumed. It was making him partially immortal.
"Boss, I can explain, really, it was just--I just--you gotta understand--" Raven tried to grovel, but it went on deaf omnipotent ears. There was a sharp crack as a something flew out of the gate. It was an arm-like...thing...with hand outstretched, ready to snatch her into the abyss. She desperately scrambled backwards, but it latched onto her ankle. It felt like very, very cold ice had just slithered up her leg.
With a quick jerking motion, Raven went flying through the air and through the open Gate. She screamed horribly for a moment, before the impending doom swallowed her up and imploded upon itself, squishing her into nothing.
"...I'm guessing that hurt," Smoke said, blinking more. "A lot."
"I hope it did," grumbled Wufei, struggling to get to his feet. "It is only just, after all."
"Glad to see you're feeling well enough to be narky, 'Fei. I missed that." Duo had slunk in Wufei's general direction while Raven had been pleading, and leaned over to give him a hand up.
"I missed you missing that," Wufei responded as he sluggishly pulled himself up. Duo grinned shyly and pulled him into a fierce hug.
Kiran, having seen Raven's fate, felt the fight drain from him. The grip he had on Michael's hair loosened and he gave up trying to twist out from the death hold around his throat. What was the point? No matter who won...he, ol' faithful, hardworking Kiran, would probably die. The Boss had ~liked~ Raven, and look what happened to her! What would happen to him?? The Boss hated him!
Truer words...
Kiran winced and closed his eyes. If the tendril...thing about to snag him, he didn't want to see it coming.
"I'm sorry about all this, 'Fei," Duo whispered into silken ebony strands, "I should have just told you and none of this would've happened..."
"I know now," Wufei replied quietly, burying his face into the crook of Duo's shoulder, "That's all that matters...besides," he added wryly, "I like wings."
Duo chuckled, "You have the oddest sense of humor..."
Wufei tightened his hold, "No I don't. Remember Quatre's moose jokes?"
"Excuse me!!" Michael barked from his position of holding-a-sub-dued-Kiran-in-a-headlock, "The Gates of HELL are about to open and engulf the Earth! You just MIGHT want to do something about that!"
"Oh, THANK you Michael, I totally FORGOT about that!" Duo snapped. He couldn't get one second to enjoy his 'Fei...
"No need to get snippy!" Michael wondered about Kiran's sudden surrender. Maybe Raven's squishing had made him lose hope? He certainly couldn't blame him...
Duo put a hand to the Gate again. He hissed as the pain registered up and down every nerve, but gritted his teeth and PUSHED. It creaked and creaked, and moved about a millimeter.
"Fuck," he said conversationally. He'd never do this in time; he'd done that with all his strength, and it hadn't budged.
He felt warm hands wrap around his waist. "I'm here, Duo."
Despite the fact that his hand was about to fall off, Duo smiled. That's right, 'Fei was there. 'Fei would help.
Nodding resolutely, he put both hands on the Gate and PUSHED again. This time the Gate pushed back, sending crackling pain up Duo's body. He squaked in discomfort.
"Duo!" Smoke and Michael shouted at the same time.
"I'm...fine..." he grumbled, though he was clearly not. Wufei's grip tightened; he wouldn't let Quatre down. He believed. He believed in Duo. And because he believed in Duo, by due process, he also believed in God. Michael suddenly felt something warm rise in his chest.
"Father...he just might do this," he said softly. "Not that I ever doubted him. Myself, I doubted. Never him. And never You..."
I know.
Duo shoved. And heaved. If he had been the big bad wolf, he would've huffed and puffed, if he thought it would help. The task would have been so much easier if the Gate would just stop shoving against him and willingly CLOSE!
But he had 'Fei.
The Gate creaked further shut.
Kiran sighed dejectedly and hung his head as far as the arm wrapped around his throat would allow him to, "You've lost, Boss. Give up..."
"Just shut it," Wufei was saying beneath his breath, "All you have to do is push it closed. I control this thing...just push it closed..."
Duo pushed and felt the flesh on his hands burn and start to crackle. Is it possible to die twice? He wondered for an insane moment. Some religious people liked to go around saying they were born again, but why did Duo Maxwell have to die again?
"Fucking irony," he muttered and gritted his teeth. He was on fire. The negative energy from the Gate was going to engulf him and squash him, just like Raven. Except this death was going to make his first death feel like a cakewalk by comparison.
First death. Duo sighed. Only he could have multiple deaths.
But for this death, he had his 'Fei with him, and that would make everything all right. Some how.
The Gate closed with a simple "click!"