Once a Lifetime

Heero POV

As I run through the halls, I try and keep as silent as possible. I have to get Duo out of here and I don't want to get caught doing it. The other pilots and I have split up to look for Duo; we'll keep radio silence until Duo is found and hopefully extracted from the compound.

I turn the corner and come face to face with five guards, one of which was the rookie I let live. I duck back around the corner and flatten my back against the wall, ears trained on the sounds they make, waiting for movement. I know they've seen me, all I have to do now, is waiting for them to fire so I can tell where exactly they're standing.

They're not firing. Why aren't they shooting?

"Pilot 01," I hear the rookie call out to me, "We have been ordered to grant you safe passage through the compound. You need not shoot." It's a trap. It must be a trap. I hear boots stomping off down the hall so I risk a peek around the corner. Only the rookie is standing there, his gun on the floor. I could take him out if I needed to. "Pilot 02 is in holding cell 1221."

I glare at him, but give him a little wary nod. I have to keep my guard up; it could still be a trap. I run down the corridors, ever mindful of anything that could be considered remotely suspicious. I run past a door marked 1221 and skid to a halt, panting, and kick down the door. The door is thrown back off its hinges to lie on the smooth floor.

I look around the small, dim room. I still think it's a trap, and then I see him. My heart pounds loudly in my chest, so hard, that I can hear it. My Duo, my precious Duo lays prone on a small cot. His skin is so pale, it's practically translucent. His breathing is so shallow, I almost miss it. His long rope of hair trails off the cot and just brushes the floor. My Duo... my angel... he's so beautiful... what have they done to him?

"Heero?" I hear him call softly.

I step forward, placing my hand on his icy one, "Hai, Duo. I'm here."

Violet eyes peek through his long lashes, blinking at me sleepily. They've almost lost their shine. That's when I realize I'm going to lose him. "Duo... what have they done to you?"

"It's an experimental drug, Heero... it's messing with my system..." His voice is so small and brittle; I can't help the tear that begins to gather at the corner of my eye.

I lift him, so that he's almost sitting, then I too sit on the bed and hold him, making him sit on my lap. "It'll be okay Duo... I'll get you the antidote. There is an antidote, isn't there?" I'm beginning to worry. I don't like that Duo is so cold and weighs so little.

"Yes, Heero, there is an antidote. I've already been given it, but it isn't working."

I can't help it any more. I let out a sob, and free the tears I've been holding back. I can't loose him. Not after so long! "No, Duo... Just stay with me. I care about you too much... Please, stay."

I feel cold lips on my forehead and a warm tear fall on my hand. I look up, and see a tear falling from his eye. He's crying too. "I'm so sorry, Duo... so sorry... I've ruined it all. This was our last chance to make it and I've failed. I've failed you." I'm losing to hysteria again, "Please forgive me Duo..."

He places a cool finger on my lips and smiles at me. I love that smile...

"I want you to know, Heero, that I love you. I always have loved you and I always will. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more time... but my time on earth s fading."

I hug him tight to my chest, his body getting colder by the second, but I don't care. "I do love you... I love you so much." Did I just say that? I've never been able to say it before... I've never been able to say the word "love"... I feel him going limp in my arms as I cling to him, praying that he lives.

"You...love me... Hee-chan?" His words are barely even a whisper. I let go a little bit, and see his eyes closing, eyes rolling up. His eyes close, a little content smile on his deathly pale face. "..Say it...again...."

"I love you!" I say it with a little more enthusiasm than I had actually intended as his body goes limp in my arms.

He's gone. He's really gone.... NO! Duo, come back!! I hold his cold, lifeless body to me, rocking it gently back and forth as my tears fall freely down my face. Duo, please... I can't live without you... not now that I know how I feel... I realize that I've been murmuring "I love you" over and over into his hair even as I choke on my sobs. I've never cried like this before... not even for that girl with the puppy.

I feel warmth coming from Duo's body. I look down and see it engulfed in brilliant red and black flames that although warm, don't hurt me. His body becomes lighter in my arms, and I realize he's fading, literally. In moments, Duo's body is gone.

Just as I'm about to curl into a ball and sob for my Duo, the same red-black fire starts up a few feet in front of me. He looks... gorgeous. He has the most beautiful ebony wings I've ever laid eyes one. His are even more beautiful than Trowa's. His hair is neatly braided, and he's dressed in what looks like a black gauzy robe, except I can't see through it. His stunning eyes have taken on an ethereal quality, the color itself flowing as if though his eyes were made of glass with a violet storm stirring inside. I've never seen anyone more beautiful than my Duo.

He looks at me and then at himself, his wings flexing behind him. As I admire him, his violet eyes widen in surprise, "I'm . . . I'm me again....."

"Duo?" I feel my voice crack from crying so much.

"Hai, Hee-chan. Don't you think you've hid yourself for far too long as well?" His voice is like black silk, intoxicating to the core.

I wipe at my eyes and step a little closer to Duo, gently touching one of his wings. I look up at him and find him grinning, "Hee-chan? You enjoy being human?"

I blink, "I don't remember any other way to be..."

"Of course you do, Hee-chan..." He comes close to me and kisses me deeply. I feel a jolt of electricity run from my lips down my spine. Memories of our original life and the lives that came after it came flooding into mind. A blue-white light threatens my vision I shiver. A loud cracking sound can be heard and feel this huge gust of wind surround us, keeping us close together as I hold on to him. We break the kiss, both of us dazed and breathless with swollen lips. I look around me and I see that I too have wings. The difference is that mine are an iridescent white with small traces of sapphire when the light hits them just right.

"Show off," he smirks at me. I blush. It's been a long time since I've consciously been in control of my powers.

He leans close to me and gently kisses his lips, "Remember love. It's time we went back home. We've been gone for far too long."

A distant cawing can be heard coming closer to us until a black crow appears before us, tears streaming down his beak, "Master Shinigami!!" It cries as Duo reaches out to catch him and hold him close, "Hello Shi....miss me?"

The bird nods and Duo lets Shi go. Duo watches the crow fly and caw in joy and moves toward me, pulling me into his arms, "I rather like you like this best."

I'm beginning to wonder if this shade of red is a permanent fixture on my visage but I have to agree. Duo's never been more beautiful than when he is in his daemon form.

"... I missed you, Duo..."

"I missed you too, Heero. I'm sorry I couldn't always tell you what was going on. But I kept my promise. I always looked for you. I always loved you, no matter the risk." He's giving me a look full of love as he caresses my cheek. I can't help but lean into the soft touch and sigh.

"...also... I wanted to thank you..."

"Why thank me?" He looks so adorable when he's confused.

I take a breath and shyly avoid his eyes as I whisper my answer, "For not giving up on me... especially this lifetime. I know I wasn't the most open of people and I know I was callus and downright insensitive all the time. I... I never meant to put you through that. I know it must have hurt you more than me since you could actually remember me being kind and open in other lives..."

I look up a little as he gives me a warm little chuckle and a tight hug, "I would never give up Hee-chan. I love you too much."

Yes, I think this blush is going to stick with me for the rest of eternity.

And apparently Duo noticed. He lightly touches my cheek, feeling the warmth from the blush, "I love it when you show me you can be touched by mere words."

There had been something I wanted to ask Duo when we were discovered so many years ago. I wanted to ask him the most important question of my life but then things took a turn for the worst and I was never able to ask. At least this way, I know that his feelings are genuine after all he's been through to keep us together. I can do no more than return the gesture, even if it pales in comparison to what he has given me.

"...Duo...I know that this isn't the first time I ask this... but...It's still the first time I ask as myself..." I lower myself on one knee and hold out an outstretched palm, conjuring onto it a platinum band with amethysts and sapphires sprinkled on it, yet retaining a smooth surface, "....Duo... be mine... forever."

I'm rewarded with the brightest smile in all of creation. It's so bright, in fact, that the tears in his eyes do nothing but enhance the effect of it on my system.

"You. . .want me forever?"

I nod, my voice cracking, "... if you'll have me..."

Still with that beautiful smile on his face, Duo falls into my arms, wrapping both his arms and wings around me, "Always..... I didn't fight as hard as I did to have anything less than forever."

I find myself giving Duo a genuine smile, something I haven't done in a long time. I hug Duo back, holding him tight; wishing I never had to let him go again, "I love you Duo... even if I didn't always show it... I've always loved you."

"As I have you, Hee-chan," he brings his lips back to mine, kissing me as we had never kissed before.

I break our kiss and gently take Duo's hand and place the ring on his finger, kissing the cool metal against his warm skin once it is in place.

"...No one will be able to separate us now, my Shinigami."

"...Never again, my Angel Master."