Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Gundam Wing and endless waltz. I'm not a genius so I have to borrow existing story lines and their characters, but that is what Fanfiction is for, right?
This one-shot was inspired by the song 'Still' by the Foo Fighters on their 'In your Honour' CD.
Author note: If this story turned out right and if you read it the way I intended then you might end up having to read this fic through twice to understand it fully. Criticisms are welcome, folks!
Enjoy!
Death and Daffodils
Duo Maxwell knelt down in the saturated green grass, unable to feel the heavy rain falling from the Earth's cloudy grey heavens.
He stared dolefully at the flat, smooth textured, slab of stone in front of him. His fingers reached out as if to touch the carved writing, but he withdrew his hand with a pained sadness.
Over the past months, he had experienced so many emotions, replacing each other, swirling in his empty heart, but they had all faded away recently to leave him pleasantly numb.
Duo still had trouble believing all of this, even with the carved name standing boldly before him, confirming the truth.
Death had taken everything from him once again, his life was stolen from him.
Why him? Why did death always come whenever he was happy? It wasn't fair.
He missed Heero.
Duo wanted to close his eyes, and when he opened them again he would find that all of this was just a bad dream, that everything was back to normal. He wanted to hold Heero close, and never let go again. He wanted to experience their love for each other once more. So many things were left undone and unsaid.
It was all so sudden. A tragedy they called it. A stupid accident. Such a pathetic way for an ex-Gundam pilot to die.
When It happened, He and Heero were standing on the walkway of a suspension bridge, straddling the churning grey of the fast flowing river below.
It was bitterly cold in the winter weather, and Duo was gleefully expecting it to snow any day.
They were both wrapped up in layers upon layers of T-shirts, jumpers, jackets, gloves and hats.
It was barely enough to prevent frostbite, but to further block out the cold they huddled close together, sharing body heat.
They both liked trying new experiences, and Heero had suggested that they should watch the sun set from the bridge on their afternoon off from work.
Duo had been reluctant at first, not liking the idea of standing in minus degree temperatures, but he had caved in when Heero gave him a hesitant hopeful smile.
They had both been working on Heero's ability to express emotions for quite some time now. Heero had opened up to Duo just after the end of the second war, and from there they grew closer until they breached the boundary of friendship into something much more intimate.
Everyone was happy for them. Even Relena, who took Duo aside and made him swear to take care of Heero the way that she couldn't. Then she moved on with her life, her head held high, the way only the ex-queen of the world was strong enough to do.
Duo felt bad for her, but he wouldn't have changed anything for the world. He couldn't have been happier with Heero.
As they stood together on the bridge watching the blood-red sun dip further below the distant horizon, pressed against each other, cheeks flushed, breaths turning to mist in the frigid air, Duo felt complete.
That was when it all went wrong.
A collection of squealing car tyres made them both turn their attention to the traffic laden road behind them.
There was a long line of cars that had screeched to a halt as the front car had braked without warning. A red car at the back of the line was travelling too fast to stop in time to avoid collision, so it swerved across sharply into another lane, forcing another black car to swerve to miss being hit.
Unfortunately both Heero and Duo were in the oncoming path of the out-of-control black car.
Duo saw the look of horror on the woman driver's face as she slammed on her brakes, but it was too late.
There was a flurry of movement as hurried hands shoved the other out of harms way.
Duo could remember that second in time just before the car hit, as if it was frozen in his memory for eternity.
He saw the raw fear in Heero's eyes. He had never seen Heero expressing fear before, and it scared him.
Duo closed his eyes at the last second before the black car of death struck head on, not wanting to see Heero's face, and so he could pretend that none of it was happening.
The sound of flesh meeting metal, snapping bone, and crunching glass was deafening.
Duo's eyes flew open with a jolt.
The car hit the metal railing of the bridge and slammed to a stop, but the force was enough to send the limp and broken body tumbling over the railing. Duo saw a flash of panicked blue as he and Heero locked eyes for the last time.
Then he vanished over the edge of the bridge.
There was the audible smack of a body hitting the water from a great height, and Duo was surprised that he survived the impact. It all became a jumble of distant sounds and images from then on, and he struggled to remain fully aware of his surroundings.
Duo remembered shouting Heero's name in a choked gasp.
Heero's desperate, fear laced shout echoed back, calling his name repeatedly, volume rising as the distance between them grew, the river's strong current carrying him away, dragging him under.
Even if he didn't have multiple broken bones and other such hindering injuries, the current was swirling, his layers of clothes heavy, and the water so ice cold it was enough to paralyse him and cause hypothermia in mere seconds.
He didn't stand a chance.
Duo saw one final view of a distant coloured dot that he knew was Heero before he vanished from sight, sucked into the murky depths of the dirty water, never to surface alive again.
Time passed in an odd blur for Duo, and the next thing he knew it was sunrise and he was standing at the riverbank, miles downstream from the bridge, staring down numbly at the washed up body, laying deathly still among the river stones on the shore.
He couldn't take in what he was seeing.
Ghostly pale skin, blue tinged lips, matted hair, damp clothes. His hat was gone, lost to the river.
He automatically went into denial, refusing to believe this was happening. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
Reality struck him hard as a search party came across the scene many hours later and declared the frozen body long dead.
Death by drowning they said.
Duo still wouldn't accept it.
Days later there was the funeral. Relena organised it, compassionately saying that it was for Heero's sake. She also said that the deceased young man deserved a hero's burial, for saving the world, and her life. She owed him so much, and the funeral expenses were a small payment in return.
Duo watched mournfully as the casket was lowered into ground, but he found himself unable to cry.
Flowers decorated every inch of space around the open grave, creating splashes of colour in among the dreary oppressive atmosphere.
The death of a world famous Gundam pilot was kept quiet from the press, and so the funeral consisted of a tight-knit group of close friends. They were the only witnesses to the burial.
Howard was standing, shoulders slouched, dressed in black, the opposite end of the colour spectrum from his usual garish Hawaiian shirts. He was like a father to Duo so of course it was no surprise that he turned up at the funeral.
Hilde was next to him, cut off sobs tearing from her throat as she forced back tears. Hilde and Duo were the closest thing to siblings that they both had. Brother and Sister, always there for each other.
Trowa and Quatre stood side by side, the tall green-eyed boy holding the blonde close, bearing the pain for them both.
Quatre let his tears flow unhindered in silent rivers, expressing his loss. The Arabian boy had always been sentimental.
Wufei was next in line, jaw clenched, back stiff. He was trying his best to remain tall and strong, but only just managing.
Duo tried to comfort him with soothing words but Wufei didn't seem to hear him. He just continued to stare at the hole in the ground with hard onyx eyes that barely revealed his inner grief. Sally stood at his side, holding his hand to give support in the way that Duo could not.
Relena, Dorothy, Noin, Lady Une, and Mariemaia were bunched together in a group. Milliardo was not present. Noin had apologised profusely saying that he was extremely busy and he couldn't make it.
All of the young women looked sorrowful, and Mariemaia was sniffling slightly with watery eyes, twisting a tissue in her hands unconsciously fidgeting. Duo had gotten to know Mariemaia after the war, and he had managed to bring out the girl's inner child that had been chained up. Under all of those tough layers and brat-like first impressions, she was energetic and playful. It just took a little encouragement.
He had taken to calling her Mari, and suddenly everyone adopted the nickname, and it had stuck ever since.
At one point, towards the very end of the funeral, Duo sensed someone watching so he turned around to look. A small sad smile quirked his lips. A distance away from the ceremony, a lone figure with hard blue eyes stood hidden in the shadows of a willow tree. Duo was sure he was the only one out of all that were gathered to notice the hiding figure because it lingered for only a second before vanishing.
As the service finished, it began to snow. A delicate fall of pure white that was beautiful to behold, and Duo found himself standing in the same spot for hours, long after everyone else had left the graveyard.
He couldn't feel the cold. He couldn't feel anything but a black hole where his heart should have been.
Now here he was, kneeling at the headstone during a heavy spring shower, months later, finally coming to terms with what had happened.
He always appeared at the same spot every week, waiting for a certain special visitor to show up.
He sensed a familiar presence behind him and turned expectantly.
With a happy smile he got to his feet and moved aside to leave room at the foot of the grave.
The figure stepped up to the grave without even acknowledging Duo standing next to him.
The young man bent down to place a bunch of vibrant yellow daffodils on the grass before straightening again.
The rain plastered his chocolate brown locks to his head, dripping water into his prussian blue eyes.
"Hello Duo," He finally spoke, his voice soft.
"Hi Heero, on time as always huh?" Duo beamed at him.
Heero never took his eyes off the grave and he didn't respond.
The sound of pounding rain filled the silence for the next few minutes.
"I'm sorry," Heero said brokenly, face crumpling.
Duo sighed sadly. "It's OK Heero, there's no reason to apologise." He rolled his eyes and added, "Again."
"It's all my fault."
"No it's not. No one is to blame. You can't control everything, Heero. How many times do I have to say that to you?"
Duo moved to place a hand on Heero's arm in reassurance, but on contact Heero shivered and pulled away.
Duo looked at him with hurt reflecting in his eyes before he backed off and lowered his gaze to the soggy grass regretfully.
Another silence passed as Heero closed his eyes and tilted his head up to the skies, letting the rain wash away any trace of the single tear that escaped down his cheek.
When he opened his eyes again, he looked back down at the grave with a sorrowful face.
"I love you Duo."
Duo smiled sadly.
"I know. I love you too Heero, never forget that."
Duo had never wanted something so desperately before in his entire existence. He wanted Heero to be able to see, hear and touch him. He wanted to let Heero know that he would always be around, even in death.
Heero crouched down to trace his fingers over the words carved in stone.
'Here lies the body of Duo Maxwell,
Dear friend, loved one, and saviour of the world.
May he rest in peace and watch over us all.
AC 180- 197'
"I'll be back next week," Heero promised as he rose and turned to walk away.
Duo darted out a hand to hold Heero back, not wanting to be left alone, but his hand passed through Heero's shoulder like mist. Heero gave a violent shudder but carried on walking until he vanished into the heavy curtain of rain.
Duo continued to stare after him with a heavy heart. Death took his life away in more ways than one.
He wanted to break down and cry so badly, but he couldn't. Ghosts didn't own the ability to cry.
He turned and bent down at his own grave to admire the daffodils. They were his favourite springtime flowers. Only Heero knew that.
Standing tall he let a faint smile grace his features before he faded away into the rain, not to return until he had a visitor to greet at his grave once again.
Wufei was scheduled to pay a visit sometime soon.