Dual Fates Part 2
Death's Demise
by
Sailor Janus
Duo sat on the grass near the salvage yard playing with a couple of thin green strips of grass. It wasn't that he was feeling lazy like he usually did, but the twenty year old for some strange reason almost felt at peace, as if he were trying to prepare for a horrible event that was to take place.
"But isn't it stupid to think this way? It isn't like I'm going to die tomorrow or something?" the chestnut brown-haired pilot mumbled to himself as he stared up at the artificial sky. It was going to get dark soon.
Suddenly a chill coursed through Duo's body, sending shivers down his spine. "Strange, it's not supposed to get cool yet," he said to himself feeling oddly wistful. Everything felt so different and at the same time, as if nothing seemed to hold any value. Whatever was once incredibly important was now purely pointless.
Normally, he'd go pester Heero or Wufei, but the blue-eyed pilot wanted to be alone for some reason. It was like Duo had suddenly aged. 'Maybe I'm getting sick,' he decided reclining back to the point where he was practically lying on the thick fake grass.
The Gundam pilot did not even feel like his usual cheerful self. In fact, melancholy was the more appropriate word for this new sensation. He felt like he was about to both lose and gain something at the same time. The idea of this was so foreign and disturbing, that Duo wished he could share what he was experiencing with one of the other pilots. However the blue-eyed man came to the conclusion that they either would not understand, telling him it was only his imagination and that the feeling would go away in a few days or say he needed some psychiatric help. "There is no way I'm going to see a shrink!" Duo scoffed out loud, watching the sky begin to dim.
With a sigh, the cobalt blue-eyed pilot climbed to his feet. The artificial sky never did compare to the Earth's with its brilliant sunsets, sunrises, and the stars, glowing brilliantly down upon Duo. "Maybe some sleep will do me good," he said to himself, turning to walk into the small house next to the salvage yard.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The braided-haired pilot found himself staring up at the ceiling. White chalky paint with a small amount of texture, but boring nonetheless. For some odd reason, he was almost afraid to sleep yet at the same time eager, which was rather confusing and frustrating.
Before he realized it, Duo Maxwell had fallen fast asleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Duo."
The young man curiously gazed around his surroundings. He was outside, standing on dew-kissed grass wearing his usual black clothing as a gentle breeze blew his long bangs across his forehead.
Suddenly, Duo heard his name called out once again. The voice was very soft and feminine, taking him by surprise. Quickly he glanced up, finding a pretty dark-haired girl looking up at him. Her deep violet eyes shone in the moonlight as a tiny smile graced her face yet she seemed to appear incredibly sad.
"Huh? Who are you?" the cobalt blue-eyed man asked, facing the petite girl wearing a flowing lavender dress.
She bit her lip, briefly shutting her eyes before quietly answering, "You'll remember in due time."
Duo's eyes widened as he stared at the girl. "I... you seem familiar. Were you in one of my classes or something?"
The dark-haired girl appeared to almost laugh as she shook her head. "No. I wasn't. We go a lot further back than school."
The chestnut brown-haired pilot frowned as he tried to think back. "Were you one of the Sweepers? Or maybe one of the kids I used to know when L2 had that plague."
"No. Listen Duo, I must tell you something very important." the girl said before thickly swallowing. Why did they have to be faced with death for their future? And why was she the one to break the news. "If you noticed, death seems to occur around you quite often. Am I correct?"
Duo briefly dropped his jaw as he stared at the dark-haired beauty. "Y-yes. Death follows me everywhere I go. That's why I call myself-"
"God of Death. The Shinigami," the girl finished as she raised her eyes to meet his.
The braided-haired pilot blinked at the girl's words in amazement. "How did you know?!"
The violet-eyed young woman sighed deeply as the wind blew her hair towards her face. Duo tried to resist the urge to brush her hair away as she softly spoke. "Meet the Goddess of Destruction and Rebirth. Your higher form warned me of my death a day ago. Now it's my turn to repay the favor."
The pilot stared in horror as his face grew extremely pale. "You-you mean I'm going to die?! But that's not fair! Why?!"
The girl winced at Duo's reaction. If only there were a way to make this easier. Sadly she glanced at the grass as she approached the stunned man. "Duo, calm down. Tomorrow there will a very difficult battle between the gundams and the newest faction, which call themselves Dark Falcon. Dark Falcon has created their own more powerful gundam called Revolution. They remained concealed from the Preventers and no one even knew of their existence until the day they seek world dominance. That day is tomorrow." the dark-haired girl took a deep breath as she looked into Duo's blue eyes. "You and the other pilots are in a seemingly endless battle against the mobile suit. All of you give everything you have but it isn't enough. You're weak and injured but strain to continue the fight. Suddenly just Revolution is about to execute your friends, you take advantage and slam your gundam into it and away from the others, drifting away towards the Dark Falcon base as you hit the self detonation button, destroying all."
Duo stared into the girl's bright violet eyes as he inquired, "There was no other way?"
The young woman dropped her gaze as she stared at the grass once again. "No, my dear Shinigami, there isn't. It was either yourself or the others. You chose the most valiant act possible."
The man however still did not want to believe that the beautiful girl before him, knew his future. No it could not be real. Death cannot be his fate. "But why?! Why must someone die?!" he shouted, spinning around as he balled his fists into two tight balls.
The dark-haired girl quickly took a hold of one of Duo's hands without even thinking. She only wanted to make this revelation as painless as possible "I didn't understand it myself at the time before I was to meet my own death, but now I do. We are not meant for the Earth. Our only reason was to prevent the devastation that would occur without our selflessness." Carefully she reached her hand up to run her hand down the pilot's face. "You'll die a hero."
Duo felt a little more composed. For some reason, he couldn't seem to hate the girl. It was as if they were tied together. Whatever he had to experience, she did too and so forth. "Why? I still don't understand? How can I actually be the God of Death or Shinigami as you called me? I thought it was only a nickname. And why must I die?"
Violet eyes gazed deeply into blue ones as the girl softly spoke. "Duo," she murmured before lightly kissing him on the mouth, stunning the braided-haired young man. "I wish I could prevent this horrible destiny from occurring but I can't. Everything will come together as the events happen. It did for me." Gently, she ran her fingers through his chestnut brown hair, with a tiny smile. Duo only stared at her as he listened, almost mesmerized by the soft tone of her voice. "Please remember your sacrifice will not be in vain, not to mention you'll save so many lives. Don't fear what you are, you're the Shinigami."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Duo sat straight up as he awoke from the hauntingly realistic dream. "Wow! What a dream!" he exclaimed, tossing his chestnut brown braid off of his shoulder. "She was cute too! Too bad she said I was going to die tomorrow." he mumbled, frowning. Why was it only the most beautiful girls had bad news. This was the first time Duo had actually experienced this, the other times were in movies. "Could it be true? Am I really going to die? Man this is going to bite!" he decided, flopping back down on the semi-comfortable bed, deciding even the dead needed their rest.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The cobalt blue-eyed pilot awoke to the sound of his telephone ringing. Groggily, he answered, slurring a semi-coherent "Hello." A very urgent Heero was on the other line pronouncing everything the girl from Duo's dream had predicted.
Hanging up, the man rubbed his eyes before climbing off his bed and turning towards the window. "Well, this looks like the perfect day to die," he said dryly before rushing off to change.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Well, this is it old buddy. Time for one last battle. Man am I going to miss you," Duo said as he glanced up at his Deathscythe Hell gundam with a grin.
With determination written on his face, the pilot climbed inside, preparing to begin his last mission, but he had to do it. It was his destiny.
"Duo. Duo! Where are you?" a very irritated Heero radioed in.
The long haired pilot sighed. Heero was notorious for being impatient when it came to missions. How he was going to miss that, and Trowa's silent yet well perceived attitude, Quatre's kindness, and hell, even Wufei's insults. "I'm taking off right now."
With one last glance at the storage building, which housed his gundam, Duo pressed a few buttons and swiftly soared off into space.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As soon as the young man arrived at the battlefield, he could tell that situation was very bleak. The other gundams were practically damaged beyond repair. Duo wondered how his friends could possibly survive without accidentally self-detonating due to the destruction on their mobile suits.
'Damn it! That guy is going to kill them!' the 02 pilot thought as he watched in horror as Trowa's Heavyarms just ran out of both bullets and missiles, leaving the mobile suit practically powerless except for it's small knife as the Revolution gundam nearly blew off the green-eyed man's head, only to be blocked by a very relentless Heero commanding the Wing Zero.
Sandrock, was actually missing an arm and half of a leg as well. Both of the heat shoals were gone, thrown as a last resort attack. The kind-hearted blonde appeared to be slipping into unconsciousness after a few too many hits. Trowa and Wufei were constantly talking to him, trying their hardest to keep Quatre awake.
The Altron gundam was also in very rough shape. The twin beam trident had been sliced into two, completely useless now. All the firepower had been immensely used up, including both of the dragon fangs. The Chinese man was practically as helpless as Trowa and Quatre now.
Heero was barely able to hold his own against the more powerful gundam. Somehow, the pilot of Revolution had scrambled the Zero system, leaving it worthless. The machine cannon had already been used up as well as the twin buster riffle. Wasted on close misses. Regardless, the Perfect Soldier continued battling the Revolution gundam using only his beam saber.
Unfortunately, the new gundam appeared to have the best of all the gundams. The Wing Zero's twin buster rifle and beam saber, Deathscythe Hell's Buster shield, Heavyarms's homing and micro missiles, Sandrock's armor, and the Altron's vulcan.
Duo in horror watched as the Wing Zero's arm was sliced off, now rendering the mobile suit completely incompetent for battle.
"This is it," The Deathscythe Hell pilot said before charging into the fight with his beam scythe raised to attack, preventing his friend's death by a split second. "Hey! Why don't you try fighting someone who can still fight back!"
"Ha! The 02 pilot. I'm going to finish you off," the Revolution pilot snarled as he fired the a few missiles at the new comer.
Duo snickered as he struck again, but unfortunately missed as the missiles smashed into Deathscythe Hell, tearing into the large gundam as if it were made of paper. "Not if I don't first."
The Dark Falcon's superior gundam took a swipe at the 02 gundam, slicing into Duo's mobile suit, scaring the hell out him as shards of Gundamium reached out, stabbing painfully into his body.
"Ahhh! Shit!" the man yelled, knowing he was running out of options, everything else had either been used up, or was not replaced from the last battle. The cobalt-blue-eyed pilot could hear his friends screaming for him over the inner-com, but he had to ignore them. It was time to meet his fate. The question was could he really succeed?
"Don't fear what you are, you're the Shinigami."
Duo nodded his head as determination filled his blue eyes. He was the God of Death and this was just something he had to do even if it was purely suicide. Sacrifice seemed like the better word however. "It's time to meet your maker you piece of crap," he growled as danger flashed into his blue eyes.
Heero recognized right away what the Deathscythe Hell pilot was planning and did not like it. "Duo! Don't do it! I know exactly what you are up to and it's suicide! There's got to be another way!"
The braided-haired man shook his head. "Sorry man, but it's my destiny. I'm really going to miss all of you! Goodbye!" he quickly said before switching on the boosters, sending his gundam plowing into Revolution before the pilot even knew what hit him.
"Duo! No! Stop!" Quatre cried out, tears flooding his blue eyes watching the two gundams soar towards the Dark Falcon base.
Wufei could not believe what he was seeing. Why? "Duo you baka! Don't do it!" he yelled hoping the pilot would gain some sanity before practically killing himself.
"Duo, don't do it! We're not worth you dying!" Trowa shouted as he shook his head. "No."
Relentlessly, Duo would not listen. It was almost time to go out with a bang. How appropriate.
"You are insane! Release me at once!" the Revolution pilot screamed as fear filled his dark eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was the one to execute the insipid gundam pilots, not the other way around.
" Don't fear what you are, you're the Shinigami."
"It's time to taste the wrath of the God of Death! SHINIGAMI!" Duo yelled at the top of his lungs as he pressed the self-detonation button, just as they were about to crash into the base.
Deathscythe Hell gundam erupted in a huge blaze as it exploded, destroying both of the gundams as well as the base. Duo's four friends could only helplessly watch, as their friend took his life to spare their own.
The Arabian burst into tears as he stared at the massive destruction, granted by the brave pilot. "DUO! NOOOOOOOO!"
"Duo," The Perfect Soldier quietly said as a strange feeling filled his heart. Sorrow.
"That braided baka! He actually did it!" Wufei choked out as he tried to contain his composure.
The Heavyarms pilot shut his eyes as he bowed his head. "He's dead. He killed himself for us and the safety of the world."
"Come on. Let's see if we can find his body." Heero said, guiding his damaged suit to the site of the wreckage as his surviving friends reluctantly, followed.
"He-he died a hero," Quatre stuttered, as his cheeks continued being soaked with hot tears.
Prussian blue-eyed man tried to keep his focus on finding Duo's body. "I always thought I would be the first to give up my life for the good of the world, but Duo beat me to it."
Duo watched his friends pick through the remains of the two gundams in hopes of recovering his broken body. He shuddered when they finally found it and turned away. "I can't watch this. It's just too hard. I wonder if I can find that girl. Hotaru." he said floating around in space before realizing something strange. "Wait... how did I know that was her name?! She never told me!" With one glance at his mourning friends Duo gave one last smile as he waved goodbye, "Bye guys and take care. I'll miss all of you."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's Notes: Don't worry. This is far from over. The next part will have some very interesting humor in it but hey Duo is one of the main characters so that should be expected.
I have got to say wow and thank you for all the reviews. I realize that killing the main characters off right away is not exactly a normal way to begin a multi-chaptered fic but oh well. I like being different, lol.