Shinigami 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gundam Wing Characters so please don't sue me for borrowing them . . .

He woke in darkness, listening to the sound of his own breathing as it echoed off the unseen walls. Blinding pain raced up his body as he slowly pushed himself off the cold hard ground, by the time he managed to get into a sitting position with his back to the wall his lungs felt like they were on fire. His mind was a mess of information, broken bones, bruised ribs, it seemed like his body was finally going to give out on him. A pity, I wanted to pay these bastards back in kind for that they've done to me so far. He had learned to move without making a sound; even the chains on his wrists and ankles would no longer betray him.

He had tried living with the memories of his past still fresh in his mind, but those memories had proved to be more of a burden then an asset. The more he tried to remember the past, the more pain they inflicted until it became unbearable to even picture his past and the life he had once lived. Worthless that was what his past had become . . . a burden that he was much better off not remembering. To live now, he would have to become someone else . . . someone much stronger then he was right now.

"Why not become a God?" A soft voice spoke from somewhere in the darkness. Even with his new senses he had not noticed her sitting in the corner of his cell with a smug smile on her face.

"Become a God?" He whispered coldly.

"I heard that in your past, you once called yourself a God . . . why not become that God once more?" She chuckled as if the thought were amusing. A smile spread across his face at the same thought, in order to survive he could no longer be the person he was now . . . so why not become a God?

"Shinigami . . . ."

"Shinigami . . . is that what you still call yourself? I thought you gave up that name years ago when we left our lives as pilots behind us." The sound of Wufei's voice jerked him out of his sleep. Duo lifted his head staring into the darkness to where Wufei sat propped up against the wall. He should give Wufei some credit, he healed much faster then Duo thought he would even with the aid of medicine. So he's figured out the trick with the chains? Duo snickered leaning his head back against the cold metal walls of the cell.

"What's so damned funny?" Wufei cursed his temper flaring at the thought of being laughed at.

"You are . . . are you still clinging to the idle hope that 'Duo' will return and everything will be alright?" Duo shook his head, "Was I ever this stupid?" Duo sighed as he pushed himself up onto his feet and moved towards the door.

"If you weren't the Duo I know, then why did you save me? A few more days like this with these wounds and I probably would have died from infection."

The question hovered in the heavy silence as Duo stood in the doorway; pale red light illuminated his form and cast a shadow against the metal floor.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Wufei . . . I'm keeping you alive so I can have a little more fun before Luna returns." Duo replied sliding the door shut behind him.

"I don't believe you." The sound of Wufei's muffled voice reached his ears and he laughed.

"I don't really care if you believe me or not . . . it's fun either way."

The sound of footsteps approaching her from behind made her tense, a hand touched her shoulder and she spun knocking it away as she brought the silver knife up for the killing blow. Heero's hand clamped over hers twisting until the knife fell out of her grasp, his eyes were cold and calculating as he watched her. Luna sighed, relaxing slightly at the sight of him; she barely felt the pain in her arm as she waited calmly for Heero to release her. After a moment Heero's grip relaxed and he let go of her arm bending down to pick up the knife.

"What are you doing in here?" Heero turned his gaze towards the kitchen counter and the blood that spread out around the small body of a half-eaten cat. "You can't eat that." He sighed moving towards the cupboards in search of a trash bag.

"There's nothing else." She replied watching him as he pulled out a small white kitchen trash bag and scooped the dead cat inside it.

"I hope this wasn't anyone's pet." He replied. When he had first met Luna he had been unsure what to do with her, more over he was still unsure what to do around her. The girl would eat any meat, so long as it was still bleeding and fresh. He had discovered her other love was the flesh that came right off a living creature, that was the only thing that shocked him now. That first night, she killed the dog from next door . . . the night after that it was a rat. I don't know if I can take much more of this.

"It was a stray . . . and it wasn't easy to catch." She replied moving towards his fridge. Heero twitched on the inside whenever he opened his fridge now, somehow she had managed to collect an entire stock full of blood and he was quite certain he did not want to know how.

"Don't go killing things, it was hard explaining even a small part of you to Lady Une what do you think she'll do if she finds out about this part of you?" He asked tossing the tied up bag into the outside trashcan. He turned around and stopped short when he realized she was standing in front of him.

"Why did you believe me?" She whispered her hand snaked up his neck until her nails touched the skin just below his chin. "Why aren't you scared of me the way that lady was? What makes you so different?"

"I'm not so easily scared, and as for why I believe you . . . it's because you know Duo and as far as I know Duo isn't one to lie with a straight face." He replied calmly.

"You should see him now . . . ." She smiled pulling her hand away from his neck. "Shinigami really lives up to his name you know."

"Why are you calling off the search? We haven't even found our men yet!" Sally voice shouted over the intercom making Une flinch at the sound of it. She had given the order and was expecting this kind of outburst but it just could not be helped, circumstances were firmly out of her hands now. I'm terribly sorry Sally . . . I know what this is doing to you but I have to do it.

"Are you questioning my orders Sally Po? I want you and your team to pack up and return to headquarters do I make myself clear?" Une replied firmly. How could her voice sound so calm when she herself was being slowly ripped apart inside at the mere thought of how helpless they had all become in light of this new enemy. And once again we must place our lives in the hands of those whose very existence seems to be the only thing keeping our peace safe. Forgive me master Treize . . . .

"Yes ma'am." Sally replied almost coldly as the intercom went dead. Lady Une sighed as she put her face in her hands, the helpless feeling grew with each passing moment, and would they make it in time?

"We'll take it from here, Lady Une." The sound of Heero's voice made her look up with a tired sigh that seemed to have become a force of habit. Her eyes turned towards the girl that stood beside Heero and she felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of what they were about to do.

"It will all end soon . . . Shinigami made a promise that it would all end soon." Luna replied calmly her eyes seemed to glow with the excitement that she must be feeling right about then.

"May God have mercy on you both." Lady Une whispered as the two turned and walked out of the room. Luna paused in the doorway and looked back at her with a sad look on her face.

"God? I'm afraid you are going to have to believe in a different God in order to pull this one off . . . Mercy has nothing to do with the God of Death."

Wufei stared at the shadowed corners of his cell with suspicious intent, Duo had not come back for some time now and it worried him somehow. Maybe it was being alone that for so long that worried him, to be honest Wufei could not remember the last time he had been alone without anyone by his side. Have I become this weak that I require the presence of another in order to keep my sanity? Had he really sunk so low in those five years? He was ashamed to admit it but he missed the company of others more then he cared to realize. A loud crash startled him from his thoughts as the door flew open and Duo rushed inside followed closely by a young female. From the looks in their eyes they were not here to chat.

"Get up." Duo replied coldly even as he pulled Wufei to his feet by the chains. Wufei barely had time to speak before Duo half-dragged him out of the cell and the girl followed closely behind them. Wufei glanced behind him at the girl, he recognized her from that first horrible night but the calm look on her face was gone replaced by a firmly guarded look. Ahead of him, Duo muttered under his breath as he led them through the twists and turns until they reached what Wufei had come to know as the center of the Colony, with the large tube sticking out of it. The eerie red glow coming off the tube illuminated the mass of people standing in the room, Wufei balked at the sight of all those people.

Duo jerked the chain hard and he stumbled to his knees amid the harsh laughter that filled the room at the sight of him. Wufei felt his anger surfacing as Duo dropped the chains and walked away without looking back as if he were nothing more then a dog. Pushing himself to his feet, Wufei found himself quickly surrounded by the others in the room. Leering faces watched him with hunger in their eyes; a few licked their lips whispering among themselves. Wufei caught a bit of what they were saying and suppressed the urge to shiver at the words they spoke. His memory brought up the image of what he had seen along the walls of the Colony and the realization dawned on him as to what most of that mess was. He met with Duo's eyes from across the room and saw what he did not want to see a deep yearning hunger raged behind those calm Cobalt eyes and a glimmer of . . . regret. The crowd closed in so suddenly that Wufei barely had time to react, in every pair of eyes he saw he could see the same hunger, the same yearning for blood that he saw in Duo's. These people . . . they were no longer human.

Duo wanted to look away, but he could not. To appear weak would invite death; even now he did battle with his own inner demon. He fought hard not to join the crowd as they circled around Wufei like a pack of jackals. He could hear the rattling of Wufei's chain as he moved, fending off one attacker after another in a desperate attempt to live. One by one, the fallen picked themselves back up and rushed back into the fray, Wufei was not fighting to kill and that would be his downfall. I can't step in for you buddy . . . this time you're on your own.

"Isn't this rather cruel?" Ami asked suddenly drawing his attention back to her. "He was your friend once, and now you feed him to the jackals like he were no more then an enemy."

"I have no friends just people who have out lived their usefulness." Duo whispered coldly glaring down at her. "You'll do well to remember that Ami." She blinked at him but did not speak another word as he moved past her into the crowd.

He could feel his blood pumping in his chest; feel the spike in adrenaline and the strangely pleasant pain that came with it. Without pause, he threw those in front of him out of the way, crushing their necks as he grabbed them and threw them over his shoulder like they were pieces of cloth. The crowd seemed to part, most of them rushing towards the fallen dead rather then face the fury in the middle. His vision turned red as he made his way through the crowd to its center where Wufei stood heaving air into his lungs. At the sight of him, many of the others stepped back turning on the weaker ones who had been injured by Wufei.

Barely able to stand, Wufei turned his gaze towards Duo, whatever he saw there made him stand completely still. Duo watched as Wufei swallowed, following the motion of Wufei's throat with his eyes even as the blood raged inside him. Wufei took a step backwards but that seemed to be as far as his body was willing to take him, dark black eyes filled with a grim understanding as he stood their calmly waiting. Duo felt like screaming at him to run, to get away but the only thing that showed on his face was a cold smirk.

"You're giving up Wu-chan?" Duo chided as he moved closer with slow deadly grace.

"What would be the point of fighting you Duo? We were comrades once; I want to believe that we still are comrades." Wufei sighed, his eyes filled with renewed strength and belief. "I want to go on believing that you are still the crazy bastard who loved life so much."

Duo's hands closed around Wufei's neck, lifting him up off the ground with effortless ease. Wufei grabbed hold of Duo's wrists but made no move to stop him. I want to believe that we are still comrades. His vision blurred even as he watched the last breath leaving Wufei's body, watched as his arms went slack and dropped away from Duo's wrists. I want to go on believing that you are still the crazy bastard who loved life so much.