Author: Sparkle Itamashii
Title: Stay with Me
Warnings: Respect the rating. See my profile for details.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.
"I believe in love surviving death into eternity…"
Chapter Eight
The shelf at the base of the pier was an almost impossible place for any normal human to perch, but then again I'd always been uncannily good at getting places no one else could. I didn't have very much longer anyhow. Deathscythe was on its way to the surface, hauling the other, damaged gundam with it.
That machine was my ticket to finding Heero again.
Even if all I wanted to do was scrap it so I could keep him out of the war…
Hey, I'd paid my dues this lifetime. I had made my way through this world, forging friendships and losing friends and gathering information along the way. I couldn't remember having a life before I'd met Solo- sometimes I reckoned I didn't have one. Maybe I really had entered this world six years old, broken, and alone without any past. My earliest memory in this life was waking in a street of my home colony to the wide-eyed curious gaze of a child named Solo. He had given me a name and a place in this world; somewhere I could call my starting line.
Through it all, through everything I had seen and done and been, I had never once forgotten the arrangement I had made so long ago. Death had accepted my terms and agreed to trade places with me so that I could follow Heero, all in exchange for the mortality every immortal desires but cannot have. Death had to keep its end of the bargain- I had to be able to follow Heero. That's why I was back on Earth again. It'd been nine years and here I was, waiting for my chance.
Here, finally, would our pact be complete.
I would be able to take my official place in the design of existence.
"You meant for this to happen all along, didn't you?" I whispered, not taking my eyes from the tiny green screen in my palm. "I never had a choice about doing this, did I?"
Restlessness. Uncertainty. He never answered when I asked those questions. It bothered me, wondering about why I had been the one he chose to succeed him as the God of Death. Surely gods didn't hand their places to mortals whenever they got bored with the job. So why me? Why like this? It couldn't have been just because I'd demanded it, or because I'd been broken up over losing Heero. So what was I missing?
"It's okay." I breathed, watching the tiny blip that was my precious gundam. "I guess everyone's got their secrets, don't they? Whatever yours are… Well, I'm glad you gave me a chance and I know…" I trailed off, hearing voices above me to my left- a boy and a girl. He was here, finally. I shifted, rolling through two feet of water until I reached the plated metal of the boat on which they stood. "I guess this is goodbye, huh?" I asked, trailing my fingers across my thigh holster and reassuring myself of my gun.
I felt a restless, worried sensation tingle through me and I smiled vaguely. Maybe there was still some doubt that I would be able to succeed in my newfound position as the God of Death.
"Don't worry. I'll do fine, I promise." I glanced up, listening to familiar voices quibbling so close. I smiled tightly and suppressed the urge to do anything stupid like lose control. "I don't suppose I'm going to remember anything after I get up there. You can't really have me running around with my memory anymore, not till after this life. That's all right, I guess. I don't suppose you're going to be sticking around after I get your powers and take your place, are you?" I asked weakly as I scrabbled almost silently toward the top. "I'll be on my own again, like the mortal I should have been?"
Regret lanced through me at the words as I reached the bottom edge of the platform and readied myself to clamber atop it and meet my fate. I felt a cold, gripping sense of pride and love tremor across my senses, shocking me with the intensity. I almost lost my tentative grip but somehow ended sprawled in a heap on top of the ship instead of slipping back to the water. I didn't think Heero or Relena had seen me yet.
You should never have been mortal, my son.
"Son-?" I began, startled, as my eyes fell upon Heero's stocky form for the first time since-
In that instant, the deal… was final.
My mind went blank…
Woah… That was strange… I must have zoned out for a second.
I blink, rubbing one palm against my temple. I feel like I've just woken up from a daydream I can't quite remember. It feels like it should have been important, like a special memory. What was I… I'd been waiting for Deathscythe and then… Voices! I look to my side and see a boy and a girl standing by the controls to the ship I've boarded.
That guy…
I know that guy. I think.
He…
He's pointing a gun at that girl and he's going to fire!
I draw my own gun as quickly as possible, taking aim and firing one well placed shot at the center of his back before I have time to rise. Even as my gun fires he notices and jumps aside, whirling to look at me like a panther, wild and fierce. Blood runs down his arm at the bullet wound but he doesn't even appear phased as he glares at me.
That face…
Those eyes…
"Heero!" The girl cries, looking if she is torn between worrying and being terrified.
Heero, hm….? Why does that sound so familiar?
"Who're you?!" He snarls, like a wounded animal.
Such insolence…
I don't know who you are, but it's not your place to kill unless I say so, right?
I'm the self-proclaimed God of Death, didn't you know?
I guess… I'm just going to have to stay with you and teach you a lesson, Heero.
/End Chapter Eight, Stay With Me/
/End Stay With Me/
Notes:
This was intended to be a lead in to the actual gundam wing series. If you watch episode #2 you can find exactly the part where this ends, just after Duo shot Heero (the first time ::sigh::) and... well, pretend that's how this story goes from here out.
Well ::dies:: I hope it was sufficiently twisted enough to please you until I finish another few one shots or work through the rest of the plot for Inheritance. Which IS being worked on, despite how it looks as though it's been forgotten. Please, PLEASE leave a review here if you read this, I'd like to know what people think, good or bad. Thank you! ::loves::
