Go In Peace
Chapter Four
The clock in the den ticked noisily, clashing with the silence as no one spoke. Wufei's injury had been tended to properly, and he was sleeping in a room on the second floor. Turles' mother had made them all soup, but their appetite had vanished. Heero looked out the window every five minutes while Trowa kept watch on 05 upstairs, reading to pass the time. Quatre was loosing horribly at chess to an eight year old. Suddenly, a large chime sounded making everyone jump.
'8:00 pm'
"Come on Duo. It shouldn't have taken you so long. You guys don't think...?"
"Shut up! Don't even give up on him yet! He might have had problems loosing Oz."
Quatre shrunk in his seat at Heero yelling at him. Trowa poked his head out the door to see what shouting was all about. Just then a soft knock came at the door. Turles' mother went to the door and opened it, the priest standing in the doorway.
"Where's Duo?!" Heero's heart dropped in his chest. As happy as he was to see him alive, Duo was the main objective on his mind. He only smiled and nodded his head to the side.
In the hall, leaning on the wall for support was a muddy, drenched and bloody God of Death. At the sound of his name, he came into the doorway half asleep and moved as though a slight breeze would knock him over.
"Oh, come in please. Dear, the bathrooms right down the hall."
His head nodded and he made his way down the hall. The door closed and that was that. He didn't say a word and made no action to ask how any of them were. Something was seriously wrong.
"Would one of you take him these clothes? I'll wash his others."
"I'll go," Quatre perked right up and ran down the hall. The door wasn't locked so 04 walked in slowly.
There were no clothes on the floor and the water was running. Sighing, Quatre opened the curtain to see 02 sitting against the back of the tub like a doll thrown onto a bed. Blood and dirt slowly dripped off his clothes and swirled down into the drain.
"Come on Duo. You and I both know that best way to take a shower is with your clothes off. Here, I'll help you get your shirt off, cause I'm sure that arms bugging you."
Carefully, he reached around his comrade and shut the water off. Quatre began to peal his friend's shirt off. He then allowed Duo to take his own pants and underwear off. A bath was run right around the Americans body, his expression never faltering. He just sat there and let the Neo-Arabic wash and untangle his hair.
Quatre was becoming more worried. The blood had stopped, but Duo seemed incredibly weak. Pushing concern from his mind, he helped 02 into the clean clothing and let him rest on his shoulder to get across the hall. In the room, Quatre stitched up the bullet wounds and cleaned other scratches while Duo's hair dried. The entire time he never twitched nor said a word. But Quatre on the other hand...
"We were so worried. Honestly. I almost gave up...but that was so foolish of me." He unwrapped Duo's hair and began to brush it out.
"I killed them all..." came a whisper.
"What?"
"I shot all of them dead. They tired to kill Father Maxwell and I shot them all dead. I spent the last two-hours baring what took me three minutes to accomplish. I haven't killed anyone, since we first came to Earth...how can I justify myself anymore?"
"You did it out of self defense."
"I COMMITTED MASS MURDER!! The one thing I said I would never do is lying in a graveyard!! They never had a chance against me. I showed no mercy to the last two who surrendered. Both of them have bullets in their heads. The fear in their eyes...of me! Sure Heero or Wufei would be able to go on with life. But I can't Quat. I don't do the killing; I just bring the after effects. Death...I'm not a murderer...just death..."
"I know that you'll be forgiven." Heero came into the room and took a seat in front of Duo.
"You wouldn't harm a fly if you didn't have to. Hell, you would much rather laugh than fire a gun. It's what we were made into. It was how we were trained to act. Our instincts are screwed up due to our training. Shit happens, you have to remember that this is war and stuff like this happens everyday. Duo?"
02 had passed out. Gently, he was laid on the bed where he didn't move.
"He needs sleep. If he doesn't he could get a pretty nasty infection and we don't need him sick. He's confused right now, but he'll pull through this. It might take a while, but he will come back."
"I hope so Heero. I miss him again."
"Duo? You out there?"
"Mmmmmmmm..."
"Do you want to be alone or should I join you?"
"Only if you can answer a question."
"I'll try." He climbed through the window and took a seat beside the God of Death.
"Fire away." Of course, after he said it he cringed a bit and turned his head away.
"Do you get over this guilty feeling of killing? Doing something you swore not to?"
"Sorry Duo, but you don't really. It stays with you. Some of the things I did as a mercenary still haunt me but with the help of you guys I don't think about it as much."
"What did we do?"
"You guys showed me I wasn't alone. All of you are dealing with similar issues. That probably doesn't help but your acting like Heero did when he destroyed that shuttle with the peace leaders on it. Mr. Noventa? He went to each home and apologized to the families, almost getting killed by any one of them. But in my opinion, you did what your heart told you."
"Heero's law of life..."
It was silent for some time. Both boys looked to the stars, until suddenly Duo's face changed to great shock.
"Is it your shoulder?"
"No! It's Howard! Son-of-a-bitch he re-docked a mile from his original point. We have to leave."
Jumping back through the window he began to get dressed while Trowa ran to wake the others.
A note was left on the table for Turles' mother and they were gone. The boys left silently and moved down the street to the port. The five of them piled into a small motorboat and moved out to their ride and their Gundams.
"Ready to leave?" Howard said as he helped them aboard.
"I wouldn't care if I ever saw this place again!" Quatre said as he collapsed on a cot.
"So where to now?" Wufei asked lying back cautiously.
"Who cares? Anywhere but here Howard!"
"Got yeah, Mr. Winner."
"Where's Duo?" Heero noticed that Duo had not come down below with them.
"He's still on deck." Trowa sat on the steps looking up to his friend. As the boat pulled away, Duo stared off at the church. He would get through this, especially with his friends.
"Go in peace..." End Transmission.
I hope you all enjoyed the fic. Please Read and Review! Plus check out the rest of my stories. Over the next month or two I'll be posting a lot of stories I've written but haven't gotten the chance to type. Oh, well come back and visit my stories! Thanks for reading!