Warnings: Yaoi, Italics indicate time passing or a flashback.
Duo?
Chapter 22: Everlasting Love
Duo flinched as the clock rang four o'clock. Feeling unbearably useless, he curled up on the couch and eventually fell into a troubled doze.
Meanwhile, Heero's father was being called at his office...
Mr. Yuy shuffled through some papers on his desk as his secretary appeared in his doorway. She was flushed and her lower lip was trembling. He looked up at her and tilted his head in confusion. "Is something wrong, Yume?" he asked worriedly, setting down his papers.
She swallowed hard and drew a shaky breath. "Mr. Yuy, He-Heero is in th-the hospital..." She knew the boy and was quite fond of him.
Mr. Yuy stood up abruptly and demanded, "What!"
Yume took a small step backwards. "They said he was in a car crash... A semi hit his bus," she replied hurriedly.
Mr. Yuy's eyes widened and he ran out of his office. "Take care of things, will you Yume?" he called but didn't look back. She nodded to herself and walked slowly into his abandoned office.
He arrived at the hospital in record time and flew threw the entrance. Panting, he blurted Heero's name and his relationship to the said boy and she took him to see his son.
When he got into the room where Heero lay, his wife was already there, sitting in a chair next to Heero's bed. She looked up at her husband. He swiftly walked to her chair and knelt next to her. He then looked toward the bed.
A very beaten looking Heero lay there, seemingly asleep. The doctor came into the doorway and watched as Heero's father spoke softly to his wife.
"There's really no need to whisper." He sighed sadly and closed the door. "He's in a coma... He can't wake up if you speak at normal volume." He looked down.
The doctor had a very kind and wise appearance. His hair was grey and he was bald on the top of his head. He had a short, bushy moustache and a goatee. He extended his hand to Heero's father. "I'm Dr. Howard," he said.
Mr. Yuy took the offered hand and then looked down at his son with a solemn expression. He swallowed hard. "So... So Heero was in a car crash?" he asked Dr. Howard, not looking up.
The doctor nodded. "Yes, he was. It seems a semi collided with his bus... He was one of the unlucky victims who was injured this seriously. There were none who died, but seven others are in here still," he said, looking around the room to indicate he was referring to the hospital. Mr. Yuy nodded.
After a moment of silence, Dr. Howard picked up a clipboard that hung on the end of Heero's bed. He flipped a page and scanned the next. "Mr. and Mrs. Yuy," he began. They both looked up. "When Heero came in, we took a blood sample... It was all rather odd, you see, inside Heero's blood, there seems to be something else. Not harmful, mind you," he added after seeing the couple's eyes widen in unison. They relaxed a bit.
"Then what is it?" asked Mrs. Yuy after a moment's hesitation from the doctor.
He sighed and his brows knitted together. "It seems that Heero's blood is... Well, it's difficult to explain..." His voice trailed off. "Well, here, we need another sample anyway." He walked to Heero where an IV protruded from his arm. He took a tube of some sort and inserted into a socket on the needle.
Heero's parents watched as he did something else and the bottle filled with Heero's blood. Dr. Howard took the full tube out and held it up for Heero's parents to see. Confused expressions crossed their faces immediately. Heero's blood was a kind of purple-red color.
"I'm going to take this into one of our laboratories where one of our better scientists is... I guess you could say he is exploring Heero's blood as we speak." He paused. "I could have him come here and explain what is happening here." He motioned to the small tube in his hand.
The couple nodded.
"All right, then I'll send him in," Dr. Howard said and departed.
About five minutes later, another elderly man came into the room. He had small, round glasses and long grey hair. He also had a goatee and a longer moustache than Dr. Howard. He nodded to the couple. He seemed to take on the appearance of a mad scientist...
"Mr. and Mrs. Yuy I presume?" They nodded. "I'm Dr. J, I take it you wish to know what is happening with Heero." He brought his hands from behind his back and looked at a clipboard. He took off the top paper and handed it to them. "This is a very accurate sketch of what I found in Heero's blood, or rather, attached to Heero's red blood cells."
They looked at the paper which had a very precise sketch of some unknown thing latched onto what appeared to be a red blood cell. "But what is it?" Mr. Yuy asked.
"It's very strange... I'd have to get back to you on that. I haven't gotten enough information on it to tell you exactly what it is and what it does." Mr. Yuy handed him the paper again. "I will let you know when I find out." He nodded formally to them and left the room.
For a while, the Yuys were left alone, sitting next to their son.
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Duo groaned and sat up. It was already 8 o'clock. He covered his face with his hands. "Heero... Where are you?" He sighed heavily and walked slowly up the stairs and into their room.
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A few days later...
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Dr. J peered into Heero's room before stepping inside. He cleared his throat. "Mr. and Mrs. Yuy?" They looked up. "I've figured out what this thing in Heero's blood does. It seems that this purple something that has latched itself to Heero's red blood cells is preventing him from aging."
Mrs. Yuy's eyes widened. "How is that possible?"
Dr. J shook his head. "I'm not sure..." he admitted.
Mr. Yuy stood up. "Is he still going to die if he never comes out of this?" he demanded.
Dr. J nodded. "Yes, he will appear to be 16, but he will continue to age and will eventually die."
The couple looked down at their son sadly. "I suppose we should get home..." Mr. Yuy said to his wife. She nodded.
xxx
When they got home Duo was nowhere to be found. Nothing unusual as of the past few days. Mrs. Yuy called for him repeatedly and searched most of the rooms on the top two floors for the specter, but to no avail. She sighed and gave up.
"I wonder why he's taking this so hard?" she wondered aloud.
Her husband shook his head. "I'm not sure... Maybe if you tell him that we know what's happening with Heero, he'll come out."
Duo peered inside their bedroom where they were talking and listened closely.
Mr. Yuy continued, "He has no way of knowing what happened to Heero, and therefore doesn't realize that he's in a coma with that weird virus thing." He shuddered. "It looks awful... I wonder what it really is."
Duo's eyes widened. He swallowed hard and stepped into the room, making himself visible as he was doing so. The couple looked up at him and Mrs. Yuy stood up. "Duo? Are you alright?"
Duo stared at her blankly. "Heero's in a coma?" he asked quietly.
She nodded. "There is also something in his blood that is keeping him from physically aging," she told him.
He looked down. "How did he end up in a coma?"
"He was in a car crash... A semi hit his bus on the way home from school," she said.
Duo nodded sadly. "He can't come home then?" he whispered.
She shook her head. "No... he can't."
Duo closed his eyes and tears started streaming slowly down his cheeks as he turned and walked out of the room. The two left in the room decided not to go after him, they figured he'd come out when he felt better.
But he never did...
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And so the years passed...
Heero stayed physically young, and Duo never appeared in front of the Yuys again. Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Sally were grown and gone before too long.
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Eventually, Heero's parents passed away, and the house was empty for years to come.
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Duo spent all those long, painful years roaming the house aimlessly or staying in some room on one of the lower floors. A few months after he had found out about Heero, Duo had decided that crying didn't do him any good whatsoever. So from then on, he hadn't cried, spoken, or slept.
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Heero opened his eyes and blinked once. Twice. He sat up and looked around him. Everything was so white... 'Where am I?' he thought. He swung his legs off of the bed and onto the cold, tiled floor. He looked at all the machines next to the bed and tilted his head. He then looked at his arms. None of the tubes were even attached to him.
He shrugged and saw no harm in leaving the room if there was nothing breakable attached to him, so he got up. He walked to the door and turned back.
His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He was looking at himself! He swallowed hard and walked slowly back to the bed. The machines next to the bed startled him when they began beeping and ringing loudly.
He leaped backwards, away from the bed and two male doctors rushed into the room. He watched them as one quieted the machines and the other examined the Heero on the bed. They spoke quietly to each other and departed.
Heero hesitated before approaching the bed again. He jumped back again as the body aged... He watched in fascination until it stopped and the body looked like an elderly man who had died of old age.
He shook his head slowly and turned back to the door. He went out into the hallway and looked down both ways. There were a few people scattered both ways and he exited the room.
But he stopped. And remembered...
He saw himself walking through a crowded hallway at a place he recognized as his high school. His form blurred, followed by his surroundings and he saw himself boarding his bus.
The scene blurred again and another appeared. He was sitting on the bus, looking out the window, his forehead pressed against the glass and looking weary. For the third time, the scene blurred and another took its place.
The crushed bus and semi was all Heero needed to remember everything that had happened that day. He saw people starting to swarm around the two vehicles and a few small shrieks reached his ears. He could see his body, along with many others still inside the wrecked bus.
Some of the trapped, but conscious students in the bus were crying or screaming at the sight of their unconscious peers and finding themselves unable to escape the metal form that surrounded them.
Policemen, ambulances, and firetrucks arrived then. The crowd scattered to allow them through to the accident.
Heero shook his head to clear the image and found himself in the hallway of the hospital again. He felt a jolt in his stomach when he remembered about Duo. He wondered how long it had been since he'd last seen Duo and how Duo had handled knowing that he didn't come home.
He then wondered if he was able to leave the hospital or if he was confined there like Duo was to his house. He then searched for a staircase that might lead out of the building.
He didn't have to look far and did find a door leading outside. He squinted into the sunlight and sighed. He looked around at the street and address of the hospital and sprinted in the direction of home. He felt wonderful, he felt so light and happy... Happy that he was on his way to see his love.
It didn't take him too long to get back, and he was grinning immensely as he went up the walk to the door. He experimentally pressed his palm on the door and told himself that he wanted to go through it. His hand immediately crossed through to the other side.
He then raced through the door and up the stairs. He glanced around and sighed, thinking of his past days in this house. He went into his and Duo's old room and looked around.
The grin on his face slipped slowly away and his eyes widened. There, left on the desk long ago, was a vase containing three svelte roses standing proudly. Hardly a speck of dust had dared to disturb their beauty. They seemed to glow in the lackluster room.
Heero extended his hand and brushed a single purple petal. He spun around and raced from the room and into the hall. He stopped at the top of the stairs. "Duo?" he called softly. He waited a moment before calling again, louder this time.
He waited for the echo to die down before he listened hard. There was no sign of Duo. He called a third time, even louder.
xxx
Duo clapped his hands over his ears as he sat in one of the basement rooms. 'Stop...' he begged silently. 'Stop torturing me... Heero doesn't exist... He's gone.'
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Heero listened again and ran down the stairs. He looked around, calling Duo's name softly in each room. He went through the door by the stairs and searched the downstairs rooms.
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Duo listened to the gentle, steady tapping of someone walking around above him. He sighed and tugged at his hair that had been let down from its braid. He rose from the floor and walked out of the room.
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Heero quickened his steps after what seemed like the millionth room he'd checked to find Duo. Soon he was running through the hallways, calling Duo's name and glancing into rooms he passed. He skidded to a stop and took a sharp left down another hallway.
About to round another corner, Heero collided with something. He landed on his back staring at the ceiling with a bewildered expression. He blinked and slowly sat up. He crawled to the corner and peered around it to see what he had crashed into.
There sat Duo, rubbing his head and looking very unkempt. Heero's face lit up in a smile and he stumbled to his feet. "Duo!" he cried as he plowed into the stunned boy.
Duo managed to prop himself and his extra load onto his elbows. "Heero?" he said as he gazed at the boy clinging to his shirt and crying into his shoulder.
"Duo... How long has it been since we last saw each other? I don't remember anything..." Heero asked, not looking up.
Duo shook his head. "I don't know... I lost track of time. But of course you wouldn't remember anything, you were comatose." He smiled gently.
Heero nodded. "Yeah, I saw everything after I died... It was like I was reliving it, but I could see everything that happened that day... Even after the bus was hit."
Duo nodded.
Heero pushed himself up off of Duo and sat down next to him. He still had tears streaming down his face as Duo sat up also. Duo stood and offered his hands to Heero. Heero smiled and took them.
Duo and Heero left the basement and went upstairs together. When they reached their old room, Heero pointed to the roses that had stayed so beautiful for so long. Duo smiled and put his arms around Heero lovingly and the couple watched out the window until night fell.